


Bloodlines

by sirsoundwaveIV



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2018-10-17 20:19:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 99,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10601490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirsoundwaveIV/pseuds/sirsoundwaveIV





	1. Give It a Shot

The first thought that came to Burris’ mind when his consciousness stirred was that this bed was way too comfy. The second was that his beeping PokeNav was way too damn annoying. With a drowsy grunt, he turned over to his bed stand, and with tap the beeps went away.

On most days, underneath two warm cotton blankets, Burris would’ve went back to sleep. Well, most days he wouldn’t even have an alarm. The top of his blankets shifted, and Burris could feel a small bipedal creature crawling his way out from underneath his baby blue blanket. Moments later, a pair of black eyes stared down at Burris’ face, contrasting sharply with the creature’s white head and red clown-like nose.

“Morning, Robby,” Burris said, yawning and patting the Oshawott on the head. The water type chirped contently at the sign of affection. It was the child of mom’s Samurott, Jack, and the water-type starter of the Unova region. Though it had been years since they had lived there; they had moved to Hoenn some time ago when dad was offered a gym leader position in Hoenn.

Burris petted the Oshawott for a few seconds before a voice hit his… mind. His mom’s, specifically. Not unrelated, his nose registered the faint smell of pancakes from downstairs. Ok, maybe the pancakes could get him out from his blankets on a normal day.

“ _Burris? Breakfast is almost ready, you don’t want you and your sister to be late for meeting Birch!_ ”

Burris sighed quietly, rubbing his short, messy brunette hair. Right, that was the day. The day to leave home. His and Sienna’s 18th birthday. Sure, he wanted to hear Sienna complain all day about how she didn’t want to drag her brother around on a journey he wasn’t even interested in.

“Give me a few seconds, mom!” Burris yelled back. Of course, his mom already knew that. She was psychic, after all. It was apparently something that was genetic, and even then it manifested differently with different people. Though by the sheer luck of it all neither him or his sister inherited that gene. Which was kind of nice, ‘cuz he didn’t want to see Sienna if she could form a chainsaw with her mind. He swung his feet out of bed onto the floor, Robby bouncing off of his chest and landing in the middle of the now messed up blankets with a soft pompf. 

Burris stared in the mirror at his tan, slightly toned body. Currently he only had a pair of green gym shorts he liked to sleep in… meh, he could change those later. Eyeing one of the shirts piled on the floor, he grabbed for a plain gray shirt. He noted all of the other junk scattered across the room, including his backpack Mom had given them

He tossed it on with a sigh, a faint dirty smell reminding him it was unclean. This day’d be fun. Maybe he could finally convince mom that he didn’t want to go on a journey. He had heard enough about hers and grandma’s stories after all. He didn’t really want to end up in some mess attempting to save the region and or world, being forced to fight against dragons of unfathomable power, the embodiment of death itself, or whatever ungodly legends Hoenn had to offer.

Of course, mom would probably just say something like “none of that will happen to you!” to try and settle him down. But knowing this family, he wasn’t really a fan of those odds. These things always happened. Always. 70% of the time, all the time. 

“C’mon Robby, I’m sure Mom’s going to feed all the pokemon too,” Burris said. Ok, maybe he was being paranoid about the _always_ thing but when grandma talked about stuff she had done that was _still_ technically classified information decades later he wasn’t a fan of his odds.

Robby chirped and followed Burris downstairs, small otter feet working as fast as they could to help the Oshawott keep up.

-

The downstairs was a mess, put simply. It was a large space if it was just meant to hold three people. The kitchen sat back by the stairs, with a large long table with way more chairs than the three humans in the house needed. Sienna sat at the table with a plate of pancakes and some fruit, cheap store brought maple syrup doused on top of it.

Burris quickly noted his sister was already dressed to go. Small waist bag at the ready, a bigger blue hiking backpack at her side with a tent and slumber bag already tied to it. Their mom sat by the stove, cooking up what appeared to be small colorful pastries now alongside some pancakes. Burris noted the twin buns on the sides of her head, with twintails trailing out from them. It always amazed him how his mom always did her hair up like that. That had to take a ton of time and energy, right?

Of course, Mom seemed to have boundless energy. Decades- Burris and Sienna were born two years after Mom became the Unova champion and turned 18 today- after she had finished her journey, she still actively babied her pokemon like they were a second set of children. Her Samurott sat faithfully by Mom’s side, waiting for the first pastry. Jack always got his first; kinda. By this time, Robby had ran up to the hard shell on his dad’s head.

“Good morning, Robby!” Mom said in her usual cheerful tone, handing a fresh yellow pastry to Robby. The Oshawott chirped before devouring the still steaming breakfast treat, its screams silent as the Oshawott devoured it in cold blood. Jack had first dibs, but he let Robby eat first. It was a small tradition, one of many in this house.

Burris walked towards the kitchen, walking past a Magnezone perched on top of the TV. Shockwave let out a few high pitched beeps at Burris.

“Yeah yeah, I’m late. Shaddap, you,” he replied. When you lived with a pokemon long enough, it was very easy to discern what they were trying to say. According to Mom, Shockwave was her most powerful pokemon. It acted as sentry over the house, and tended to chastise both Burris and Sienna. Though apparently Magnezone’s lone antenna was useful for bettering TV reception, so he wasn’t here to just be awesome and to bitch at him for not doing homework.

Burris plopped down on the lone remaining chair with a sigh, and moments later Mom plopped town a plate of pancakes not unlike Sienna’s, with the exception it had much less maple syrup. 

“ _I used some of the good syrup,_ ” Mom said using telepathy. Burris smiled and grinned. It was one small happy thing on a day he had convinced himself was going to lead to major trouble down the line. Though no one appeared to listen to him on this. Even if he was being overly paranoid, the Juniper name was really well known! They probably had enemies still from some past thing, right? Even if it wasn't being forced to fist fight a legendary dragon, that was still kind of dangerous!

Well right now he had legitimate maple syrup on his pancakes, and so Burris decided to distract himself with that. He couldn’t help but note that Sienna was almost done devouring her plate of pancakes and cheap maple syrup- the half empty bottle of which sat next to her- before she looked up at him.

“… Why do you have so little syrup on your plate?” she asked.

“Because you don’t need to dump it on when it’s the good stuff,” Burris explained. Sienna rolled her eyes and went back to eating. She still didn’t believe him when he said you don’t need a ton of actual maple syrup on pancakes. Or that store-brought was not actual maple syrup and was basically sweetened water. But whatever, her loss.

Burris paused his thoughts as his mom plated up some of the yellow-colored pastries, and opened up the large window overlooking the kitchen. “Slade! Breakfast!” she shouted out into the large fenced in yard. A couple of plain wooden sheds could be seen, before the view of the yard was choked out by the blue hide of a Salamence. The dragon bent his head down to get a better look at his trainer.

Slade panted happily, tongue sticking out like he was a dog while Mom placed the plate on the windowsill. In practically seconds, the dragon-type had stuffed the entire plateful of food in his mouth, and swallowed it. Puppy dog eyes followed as he begged Mom for more.

“Slade, you oversized puppy, no more for now!” Mom said in a sterner version of her standard cheerful tone. Slade was the youngest of her team, and even though he was a bit older than Burris or Sienna, still acted like a big doofus. No one really know why he was named Slade, because it did not fit in the slightest.

The Salamence pouted before slinking away. While Burris wasn’t interested much in a journey, he had to admit it’d be kind of cool to have a Salamence of his own someday… though speaking of pokemon.

“Mom, where are your other pokemon?” Burris asked. The sound of metal clattering added slightly to the controlled chaos of the room, as Sienna had finished her meal. 

“Oh, Leliana had another Petilil baby last night,” Mom said, smiling. “She’s so happy when she’s taking care of her little babies,” she remarked, zoning out for a couple of moments as she reminisced about Burris and Sienna when they were young. It was hard not to; Leliana had seem a few of her children already accompany trainers on their Hoenn journeys, and now Mom was too. While Jack was her starter and Shockwave was her strongest, she always had a deeper connection with the Lilligant.

Evidenced by the fact said plant was named closely after her. Liliana, Leliana, nearly the same thing.

“Oh cool!” Burris said, snapping Liliana out of her small trance. Having little Petilils around occasionally was nice, even if they usually were adopted by trainers soon enough.

“Kitty I think is still sleeping outside in the shed…” she continued on. The Mienshao always needed her beauty sleep after a hard day of training. “And Chu is-“

“Mom, I’m going to Birch’s!” Sienna said, interrupting the conversation between mother and son. She turned towards Burris and stuck her tongue out. “I’m going to tell him to not give you a pokemon since you’re gonna be laaaaate!”

After that taunt, Sienna opened the door and vanished behind it after a slam. Shockwave beeped and rolled his main eye.

“Yeah, I feel you there…” Burris muttered, shaking his head. Sometimes Shockwave was right. And by sometimes he meant “when Sienna was being an asshole”. 

“She’s just very independent,” Liliana said. It was true; Sienna had looked forward to this day for a long time now, and not just because she wanted to become a champion. It didn’t make Liliana feel that sad Sienna wanted to leave home. All children left someday.

“I guess,” Burris said with a soft shrug. He sighed, causing Liliana to turn back towards him. One last try to convince her this was a bad idea wouldn’t hurt. “Look, Mom, I know we’ve had this conversation but- I still don’t really want to go.” 

It was hard to judge his mom’s reaction to this being brought up _again_ , but she pulled up a wooden chair next to Burris and gave him her usual warm smile.

“Look, I know your father and I didn’t always have the best of times on our journeys,” Liliana started. She understated this, but she had learned long ago that Burris was easily the more paranoid of her two kids and would fixate on any source of danger if he disliked something in particular. True, there were dangers to being a trainer, but… “But I met him while travelling around Unova, and I met all of my teammates and a bunch of my friends on the journey, too!”

Burris looked down at the ground for a moment. “Yeah, you have mentioned that…” His head suddenly snapped up. “But-!”

“But you don’t want to leave home?” Liliana said. Burris’s eyes widened for a moment, the narrowed as Liliana giggled. 

“You’re cheating again!” Burris said, hands on his hips. He didn’t know how a kid who didn’t live with a psychic parent could understand one that _did_. Damn mind readers. It was half the reason he was worried about this day. The other half were the aforementioned trouble that he knew his parents and his grandmothers got into on their journeys. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it sometimes!” she said, letting out a small satisfied sigh at ruffling Burris’ feathers. Her son pouted and crossed his arms before Liliana continued. “But look; it’s not easy leaving home, I get that. But I can fly on Slade and meet you on a moment’s notice, and…”

Robby jumped from his dad’s head onto the table with a soft thud. The Oshawott looked back and forth between Liliana and Burris before letting out a confused chirp. Robby was only a year old, but he was old enough to fight. And out of all of the pokemon here, between Liliana’s team and their descendants, Robby got along with Burris the most. And Oshawotts were a traditional starter pokemon, after all.

“Oh, hey Robby! C’mere, you!” Burris said, patting his lap. Robby cried out, walking to the edge of the table at a brisk pace. With a happy smile, he hopped into Burris’ lap with some force, causing the boy to cry out and grit his teeth. “That… hurt. A bit.”

Liliana giggled again, her right hand covering her mouth in a failed attempt to stifle the chuckling. She soon collected herself. “Well, what if you took Robby with you? I know Birch has a pokemon for you, but…” Liliana didn’t even need to look at Jack. The Samurott nodded to support this; Robby had been with Burris since the Oshawott had been born, pretty much. And he had little reason to not trust Liliana’s son with his own.

Burris forgot the pain for a moment, looking down at the Oshawott that had crushed his balls a moment ago. Robby looked up at him and clapped a couple of times, eyes shut and a wide open smile on the little water types face.

“W-well… I think that helps a bit,” Burris said, rubbing the back of his head. There was some hesitation in his voice, but he wouldn’t mind at least exploring closer to home with Robby and some new friends at his side. “I can’t guarantee I’ll like, become champion or anything but.”

“I just want you to try,” Liliana said with a nod. Success was not predicated on whether or not someone became champion. Success was getting her son out into the world to meet new people and see incredible new things. Sure, she’d bet on Sienna becoming champion over Burris, but Liliana only really cared about her kids being happy. 

Burris stared back up at his mom, Robby glancing back and forth between the two. He then nodded. “I’ll try. Promise.”

Moments later, Liliana pushed out her chair, the metal coasters on the legs making a less than endearing noise as they rubbed against the wooden floor. Liliana looked down at her son and grinned widely, hands placed firmly on her hips.

“Now then! I helped Sienna get ready last night but I still have a bunch of poke balls and healing items for you!” Liliana affirmed. 

“… aren’t I already late to meet with Birch, though?” Burris said, standing up himself. Robby found himself wrapped up in his new trainer’s arms, feet kicking around and arms flailing in his excitement. He couldn’t tell exactly what this was all about now, but he got to travel with Burris! And tell Dad about all of the cool things he saw! And maybe prove he was stronger than his old man, too!

“Pft,” Liliana said, then shook her head. “No way. Birch might not even be there on time himself.” She padded Burris on the head. “And besides, I can’t just let you go without making sure you’re prepared, right?”

“Heh,” Burris said, an awkward smile crossing his face. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Mom.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie.”


	2. To Birch's House We Go

It was a whirlwind of an hour, but by the end of it all, Burris was ready for adventure. He adjusted his blue hiking bag, an almost perfect color match to his raincoat. The clouds had choked out the sun, threatening rain.

Which, well, welcome to Hoenn. Sun and scattered showers described the weather half the damn time. Burris turned around to look at his house again. The unassuming brown walls, the window where he could see Mom cleaning the kitchen right now, the glimpse of their large fenced in backyard…

He knew he’d be back after going to Birch’s. But that only bought him so much time. Burris muttered a soft “fuck” and glanced down at Robby, who had been hopping up and down in place for the last few minutes.

“We’ll be back to say good bye,” he said. Robby barked, and spun around to follow his new trainer to Birch’s lab. The scientist was one of dad’s old friends who had gone to Hoenn when Burris was just a toddler. Not long before Burris and his family had moved to the region themselves, Birch had taken up the head professor role of the region.

Which, as it turned out, the connection proved to be critical for Dad’s opportunity to become a gym leader. Though Dad had mentioned that there were other gym leaders from Unova or with family in Unova in the region too. 

Burris snapped out of his thoughts when a raindrop plopped down on his nose. Robby looked up to the sky and clapped his stubby white arms.. 

“C’mon, you,” Burris said, flipping his hood up. The soft pattering of rain on plastic was a pleasant sound to the ears. “We’re going to have a lot of walks in the rain together later.” And hopefully he wouldn’t get a cold from half of them.

A couple of minutes passed and Burris was inside Birch’s lab, drying his shoes off on the old fashioned “Welcome” carpet. A few droplets of water splashed the gray tiled floor as Burris flipped his raincoat off. The sound of rain on the metal roofing was intense; the scattered shower had turned into a downpour, it seemed.

“Oh, Burris!” A tall though somewhat broad man, no older than his early forties, turned away from the Azumarril next to him to wave at Burris. 

“Here there, Birch. Studying Chu again?” Burris said, returning the greeting. Chu plodded up to his owner’s kid and Oshawott while Birch laughed.

“Yep!” Birch said. “He’s showing some signs on taking on the Fairy type like his Hoennese and Kalosian brethren, but not quite there yet.” Ol’ Chu here looked exactly the same as any old Azumarril. Unless you were Birch or saw it in battle, you’d never guess he was any different than the others.

“Cool,” Burris said. His eyes drifted past the typical mess Birch’s lab was in, to the table towards the back. A brown bag sat on the table, with a lone red poke ball outside of it. Well, alongside a ton of assorted junk. “So I’m here for my starter?” Maybe? Weren’t there usually three options?

Robby seized up for a moment in surprise, his big black eyes widening to the point one might be worried they’d engulf his head. 

“Yup! There’s only one left, but I made sure to save it for you,” Birch remarked. While for the most part he’d let trainers pick as they pleased, but Burris wasn’t just any stranger wandering into Birch’s lab. 

Burris raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. “Works for me.” Robby shook his head violently when he saw Burris walk up to the table, black eyes narrowing as _his_ trainer grabbed the lone capsule. 

Chu patted Robby on the head, and said something to him. It was unintelligible to the human ear, but it caused the Oshawott to huff and turn away. Yes, he knew there’d be others. Dad’s trainer had a lot of others. But Dad was the lone _starter_ , he didn’t have to share it with- with a-

A flash of light, and a small orange bipedal chicken emerged from the open capsule. Black eyes followed Burris as he bent down.

“A Torchic, right?” Well, it certainly was cute. Like Robby was! Though Burris noticed the Oshawott glare out of the corner of his eye. 

“Yep! Your sister took Mudkip and the third took the Treecko,” Birch said, crossing his arms. “I think you all got wonderfully fitting starter pokemon.” 

Torchic tilted his head, staring back up at Burris with large eyes not unlike Robby’s. Who had taken a few angry steps towards said Torchic before getting scooped up by Chu. Robby flailed around with everything he had.

Chu let out what sounded like a chuckle, and Birch rubbed his chin as he observed. “Yeah, I don’t think an Oshawott is going to break a Huge Power bear hug.”

“Nope. Robby, settle down! Torchic- oh, right. Name,” Burris said, humming as he looked down at the Torchic. It took a few moments. “Jorge?” The Torchic tilted his head to the other side this time, then chirped. “Jorge!” At this, Burris scooped the fiery chicken into his arms. A couple of wisps of steam wafted off of Burris’ rain jacket as he stood up. “Woah, I guess I never realized how warm fire types normally were…”

“You should see a Macargo! You’ll feel like you’re melting just by being near it!” Birch exclaimed. The sound of Chu’s plodding feet interrupted the professor, the Azumarril bringing the now-pouting Robby to Burris. 

“Yeah, I could guess…” Burris said. Chu extended the Oshawott in his stubby arms towards Burris. He chuckled at this, hugging Robby with his right arm and leaving Jorge firmly secured in the left arm. “Robby! This is Jorge, he’s the first of our new friends.”

Jorge tilted his head as he looked at Robby, who crossed his tiny arms and looked away. Burris looked to Birch with a silent plea for help.

“I’m sure they’ll warm up to each other with enough time,” Birch said. “Besides, I’ve got something else for you!” 

“Oh?” Burris questioned. While he carefully navigated stacks of equipment and magazines in an attempt to follow, Robby turned back and glared at Jorge. The Torchic glanced up at Burris for a moment, before spinning back to the Oshawott… who recoiled at Jorge narrowing his eyes and smirking deviously.

Proverbial steam could be seen pouring out of Robby’s ears at the response. As this unfolded, Burris watched as Birch grabbed a red device. 

“A PokeDex!” Birch exclaimed, extending it to Burris. The new trainer glanced back and forth between the two pokemon in his arms, before a cry from Chu reminded Burris the Azumarril was still here. He mouthed a thank you to his mother’s pokemon as Chu grabbed Robby from his left arm. 

“Just uh, gimme a moment,” Burris muttered, grabbing for Jorge’s Poke Ball and tapping it on the Torchic’s forehead. His other starter pokemon vanished in red light, and the shrunken capsule placed on his belt underneath his coat. “But a Pokedex? Why?”

“You are the great-grandson of Aurea Juniper, right? Greatest professor ever besides maybe Samuel Oak?” Birch explained, placing the PokeDex in Burris’ free hands. “I know it’s been a little while since anyone in your family took up something like this, but there’s more to life than becoming the Champion and saving the world!”

Burris looked up and smiled at Birch. Though Burris’ paranoia made him consider for a second that Mom had told Birch to say that. “Yeah, you can say that again…” Burris slipped the PokeDex into his backpack. “I don’t need to catch Pokemon to record them, do I?”

“Nope!” Birch said. “Just need to point the camera end at a Pokemon and bam! Information will start pouring in,” he explained. “Besides, as much as your mom enjoys taking care of Pokemon, I doubt she’d want to take care of every species ever,” he continued on, chuckling. 

“Heh. That might test even her energy,” Burris said. He paused as he realized the sound level in the lab had dropped. _Rain must’ve stopped._

Birch patted Burris on the head. “Speaking of, I think you should go say goodbye to her. She might not show it, but she does worry about you two,” he continued on.

Burris felt paranoia creeping in for a moment, before dismissing it as Mom being a mom. “Yeah, I wasn’t going to leave her in the lurch,” Burris said. He still kinda wanted to stay home, but a small adventure with zero expectations did sound fun.

Birch smiled warmly. “Good. Also, one more thing.”

“Hm?” Burris said, craning his neck to look up at the professor as he placed both of his massive hands on the new trainer’s shoulders.

“If you need anything, let me know,” Birch said, staring down Burris with an earnest look. “I’m not just a professor, I’m a family friend. You don’t just need to rely on yourself and your pokemon for this.”

Burris shut his eyes. Ok, maybe Mom hadn’t told Birch what to say. Still, he couldn’t help but smile, a small bit of confidence swelling up inside of him. Sure, he was going away, but he could always call Mom, or Dad, or Birch even if he needed help or advice. Hell, he could call Grandma and Grandma B too, couldn’t he? Or Grandpa N, or Grandma Skyla…

“Yeah,” Burris said. “Yeah, I know.”

-

The smell of fresh rain lingered on Burris’ walk back home. The clouds had scattered just enough to let the sun fight through. Robby waddled alongside his trainer, chirping and smiling all the while. Jorge’s Poke Ball was fixed to Burris’ belt.

Burris laughed as his Oshawott diverted his path towards a large puddle just outside. Robby barked before leaping into the puddle. After a first splash that dampened Burris’ raincoat further, the Oshawott rolled around for a bit.

Robby’s fur was dotted with mud splotches by the time he was back with Burris. “Oh, Robby…” Burris said, shaking his head. “I’m going to have to clean you up.” 

The door to Burris’ house swung open and promptly slammed shut, leaving Sienna in front of it. Burris spied the pair of red capsules on her belt before she spoke.

“Look,” she said, putting on the sternest face possible. “I know we’re leaving on the same day, but I’m aiming to be the Champion and you had to practically get pushed out of the house.”

Burris raised an eyebrow before crossing his arms. “So what you’re saying is… you’re not going to hang around with me on this?” Thinly veiled hope laced his words.

“Uh, no,” Sienna said, shaking her head. “I’d say you could be my rival or something, but… yeah,” Burris’ sister continued, shrugging and looking away. 

“Well, have fun!” Burris said, waving goodbye to Sienna.

Sienna smiled gently. This was easier than expected. “Yeah, seeya bro.”

And with that, Sienna walked off to Route 201, her feet squishing the soaked ground with every step. By the time she had vanished out of sight, Burris walked to the door, whistling a little as he opened it. The house was much cleaner than it was about an hour ago. The dishes were stacked up neatly on the side of the sink, and Mom sat at the end of the table, drinking black coffee from a pink glitter mug. Jack laid down next to her, turning his head towards Burris and Robby while they dried off their feet.

“Torchic, right?” Liliana said, smiling. “Sienna told me she took Mudkip and someone else got Treecko before her,” she added on, cutting off Burris before he could respond.

“Yeah,” Burris said, rubbing the back of his head. “Jorge’s cute, thooooough Robby’s not too fond of him.”

Robby shut his eyes, crossed his arms and nodded with force.

Jack spoke up, and Liliana nodded. “Jack says he shouldn’t worry too much. Starters are important, but so are the others you meet.”

Robby turned towards his dad, and chirped out a response. Whatever it was, Jack nodded. Robby placed his stubby left hand underneath his nonexistent chin.

“I think he might be considering Jack’s advice,” Burris commented. His expression dimmed for a moment while he walked up to Mom, Oshawott close behind. Liliana pushed out her chair, placing down her mug next to her PokeNav. 

Burris stopped inches away from mom, while Robby stood right by his dad’s paws. He grabbed his scallop and slashed it a few times in the air, barking at Jack.

Jack nodded, and patted his son on the head. Burris and Liliana laughed for a moment, before turning back to each other.

“So… I guess this is goodbye,” Burris said, hands clasped behind his back. His gaze lingered on the floor for a few moments, before he felt both of Mom’s hands on his shoulders. Looking up, Burris swore he saw tears at the corners of her eyes, moments before he felt himself drawn into a tight hug from Mom. 

She exuded warmth and comfort, and Burris responded in kind. Silence took over the room for a few moments before Liliana sniffed and released her son.

“Make sure to call, ok?” she requested. 

Burris nodded. “Of course.” Weird didn’t begin to describe how he felt seeing his mom this emotional. “I’ll call you when I get to Oldale Town, promise.” He paused. “A-and after that too!”

Liliana smiled and nodded, before scooping up her son again in a quick hug. Letting out a sharp breath, she released him. “I know you will, sweetie.”

Burris exited the house a few moments later, Robby in tow. Liliana sat back down, warm coffee in hand as she stared at the door.

Jack stared up and said something to Liliana. She chuckled softly in response.

“All children leave home someday,” she said. Liliana glanced down at her PokeNav. Speaking of family, she hadn’t called her own mother in a while.

Maybe she should change that.


	3. Buzzing Home

The day went by quickly. Liliana changed from her pink bathrobe to her pair of torn jeans and a gray, ragged, t-shirt, and went out back for a long while. She needed to make sure the newborn Petilil was still ok, that Leliana was fine with letting Peach go with Sienna, take care of the yard, and of course feed the pokemon again. A typical day outside for her.

By the time she came inside, the sky was a shade of orange. Her jeans were covered in dirt and grass stains as she sat down at the table and drummed her fingers on it. She had to make dinner of course, but…

Liliana paused her thoughts as she realized the house was quiet, and let out a heavy sigh. Of course, they weren’t home. Burris was probably in Oldale by now, and knowing Sienna she had barged on ahead to Petalburg. Her blue eyes drifted towards the PokeNav on the table. Right, she should call her own mom.

Liliana pulled out the flimsy plastic stand that came with the device with a small click, and set it down on the table. After a few taps on the touch screen, a list of contacts came up. Mom and Mama B were right next to each other. She figured she wouldn’t be able to talk with both tonight; between Bianca’s research and Ailie occasionally working on some confidential mission or foundation work they weren’t often home together on a weeknight.

“Right, Mama B’s on a research trip to Kanto right now,” Liliana muttered. So Mom it was. She tapped on the screen and after a few rings, Aile Juniper’s face popped up. She wore a plain white t-shirt and reddish pajama bottoms and her longer brown hair had given way to some noticeable gray over the years. 

“Hey Mom,” Liliana said, waving.

“Hey sweetie!” Mom said, waving back. The faint sounds of Pokemon cries and footsteps could be heard in the background. She seemed on the verge of asking a question, before an “aha” look crossed her face. “Right, Burris and Sienna turned 18 today, didn’t they?”

“Yep,” Liliana said, a small melancholy look crossing her face. “They both left home earlier today.”

Mom nodded and smiled. “It’s always bittersweet, isn’t it? But even with all of the shit we dealt with on our own journeys, we still met a lot of great people and lifelong friends.” Or rekindled relationships, anyway. Liliana had heard the story of how Mom and Mama B ended up reuniting and marrying, after all. “Even if it got me fucking roped in with the World Police,” Mom muttered.

Liliana drummed her fingers on the table at the mention. Burris was a paranoid child, yes, but Liliana found herself wondering a bit as well. “Have they mentioned anything going on with Hoenn as of late?” she questioned.

Mom crossed her arms and sighed. Their family always had a tendency to get roped into crazy shenanigans. The Juniper name was practically synonymous with “research and saving the world on accident” by this point.

“Nothing terribly major,” she replied. “Anabel mentioned going to Hoenn. Something about Team Magma and Aqua over there, but… they’re just environmental groups gone a little haywire.” Mom shrugged. “So nothing much. Nanu apparently was going to go too but decided paying attention to Team Skull in Alola was more important. Something about discovering dirty money transferred to their accounts from an unknown benefactor raised his suspicions.”

“… Uh huh,” Liliana said. “Well, with Anabel around there shouldn’t be anything much to worry about.” She couldn’t say she was very fond of Nanu, either. Too negative.

“If Nanu doesn’t think we’re all going to die from it, then no, probably not,” Mom said. “’Aile, you can never underestimate how quickly we can become just jaw bones in the dirt’ blah blah blah,” she said in a mocking deep tone.

Liliana laughed. “For being a woman, you have quite the impression of him,” she commented.

“I practice.” Aile paused. “So, about the twins-?”

“Burris took a little more… convincing... than Sienna,” Liliana remarked.

Mom rolled her eyes. “Death, taxes, etc,” she said. “Not surprising.”

“I decided to give him Jack’s son on the journey alongside his Torchic,” Liliana continued on. “I… think it helped him to at least try.”

“Oh?” Mom said, grinning and crossing her arms. “That’s a really kickass idea, actually. Not that Sienna needed the same prodding, but did you-“

“She got one of Leliana’s Petilil babies, yeah. Peach.”

“Sweet.” Aile hummed for a moment. “You know, I still have Pokemon around here too-“

A pink and brown blur suddenly blew Mom out of the screen, who landed with a loud thud and an “OW!” Aile’s Transceiver clattered to the floor as well, showing off a knocked over desk chair and the ebony wood floor. Liliana winced, before seeing a small pink and brown creature that looked like a hybrid between a bear and a plush toy stare back at her.

Liliana waved at the creature as it let out a cry. “Hi?” 

“FLUFFYKINS!” Aile snapped. Moments later, a Krookodile’s claw grabbed the Stufful by the scruff of its neck. Fluffykins attempted to wriggle free from the scarred Krookodile’s grasp, which only earned it an amused crocodile grin. “You’re lucky you’re cute or I’d launch you out a goddamn window.” Liliana barely stifled a giggle as Aile reappeared and grabbed the Stufful from her Krookodile. “Thanks, Kellie.”

Kellie nodded and let out a questioning cry in response. Metal formed around Aile’s stomach, waist and thighs, not unlike a piece of black armor, and she shook her head at Kellie’s concern. Fluffykins’ powerful back paws slammed into the metal with resounding thuds. But she grabbed her Transceiver back, set it on the table, and ignored the unruly brat in her lap for the moment.

“So, yeah. Bianca gave me the Stufful as a Valentine’s present,” Aile said. At this point, Fluffykins had accepted its fate, and settled down in his owner’s lap for pats. Noticeably, it had a pink ribbon wrapped around its neck, an Everstone hanging off of it.

Liliana crossed her arms and smirked. “Honestly with how much you love plush toys, I’m surprised you didn’t manage to discover it.”

“Cause Bewears are assholes,” Aile muttered. “Anyway, what I was going to say before _somebody_ tried to break my ribs was; would you object to me giving some pokemon to Burris, too?”

Liliana hummed. She didn’t want Burris to be extremely reliant on his family’s pokemon, even if they were practically babies. Still, knowing Aile, she’d probably give him pokemon without Liliana’s knowledge anyway. 

“Nnnnnnot all the time? But if you wanted to send him one every once in awhile, I think he’d enjoy that,” Liliana commented.

“Sweet. Kellie has a little Sandile that I’m sure would enjoy seeing the world a bit. Plus there’s Ravage and his-“

Another small box with “Connecting…” in red letters split Liliana’s PokeNav screen in half. Before long, Burris’ face appeared, though he appeared to have some sort of lily pad on his head, flattening the small spikes in his hair. The yellow walls and the bed he sat on were clearly PokeCenter staples.

“Hey Mom, hey Grandma!” Burris said, waving. Aile and Liliana waved back to the boy as the sounds of Pokemon playing could be heard in the background. “I made it to Oldale’s PokeCenter!”

“Hey, two thumbs up!” Aile exclaimed, punctuating her statement with said gesture. The lily pad on Burris’ head let out what one could guess was a quack-like cry.

Liliana rubbed her chin. “... is that a Lotad-“

“Oh, yeah! This is Traci,” Burris commented. “She sorta just… followed me when I went exploring outside of Oldale for a bit. A few trainers there tried to catch her as she followed me but she just sorta… dodged the capsules?”

“… Lotads are not nearly that agile,” Aile remarked.

Burris shrugged. “I dunno, it was like she was teetering around and… dancing? Anyway she let me catch her and she’s now the team hat.”

Liliana snorted. “She seems to enjoy the role, anyway,” she said. The sounds of barks and cries could be heard in the background. 

“You got more than just the Lotad, right?” Aile asked. “I mean, it’s more fun travelling with a full team.”

“Oh, right!” Burris sat, then patted his bed. “Madison, here girl!” At this, the Poochyena barked and jumped into her trainer’s bed. Shortly thereafter, a Zigzagoon jumped on the other side of the bed. Both paused to pant as they stared at the screen. “And Sandy too,” Burris said, then shrugged. “They like to play together.”

Madison let out a large yawn before curling up into a tight ball. She still looked at the screen, curious as to how this little window worked. What weird thingy just showed human heads?

“Aw, cute,” Liliana said. “She seems pretty well groomed for a wild pokemon, though.”

“Oh, right! Madison’s not wild, I adopted her!” Burris said. Madison raised her head for a moment at the sound of her name, though relaxed soon after. Burris rubbed her head before continuing. “There’s a small shelter in town that matches up pokemon with trainers, and they let me take her on my journey!”

“Wow, that’s a hell of a story,” Aile said, then nodded. “Adoption agencies do good work though, good on you for getting one from there.”

“Yeah, I let them take care of some of the Petilils that want to go on journeys but don’t get trainers,” Liliana added on. “I keep tabs on them for Leliana’s sake, I don’t think they’ve found a bad match yet.”

The Zigzagoon barked and then growled slightly, catching the group off guard. Burris chuckled at this, using his other free hand to rub her head. “Sorry! I think Sandy wasn’t really done playing with Madison…”

“So what’s the story behind her? Did you work with Sandy to save Timmy from the well?” Aile asked, causing Liliana to side eye her mom.

“What? No. I found her digging through the PokeCenter’s trash and caught her,” Burris said, then laughed again. “And I made sure to give her a bath, don’t worry.”

“Probably for the best,” Liliana remarked, then chuckled. “Did you see Sienna at all, by chance?” she asked.

Burris shook his head no, careful as to not accidentally toss the resting Lotad off. “She texted me though. Apparently she met up with dad and she’s spending the night there.”

“You should do the same too,” Liliana suggested. Burris shrugged sheepishly. “We talked about the expectations for your journey, don’t worry.”

“… Thanks, Mom.” Dad had always wanted a son to become a Champion or even just a Gym Leader someday, but Burris guessed Mom pointed out Sienna going for it was fine enough.

An Eevee suddenly covered Aile’s part of the screen, blocking off both grandma and Stufful. “Oi, Jonesy! Don’t block the screen, mom’s talking.” Jonesy turned back towards… mom, and nodded before jumping onto her shoulder. 

“Uh.” Burris said, glancing between both Liliana and Aile.

Liliana narrowed her eyes. “You call yourself their mom?”

“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that!” Aile protested. Fluffykins objected with a sharp cry. Burris observed with a mix of intrigue and worry as Liliana pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I see age has only perfected you being the most embarrassing mom in existence.”

Burris blinked.

“Hey, it takes time and practice,” Aile pointed out, a wide mischievous smile crossing her face. “Though Burris…”

“Nope,” Burris said, waving his hands in front of the camera. “Nuh uh. You’re not getting me involved in this.”

Liliana glared at mom and son, then softened her gaze and laughed. “Oh Burris, just wait until I’m my mom’s age. Except I can read minds and she can’t.”

Burris rubbed the back of his head and muttered something akin to “great”. 

“Yeah, you got the more traditional psychic powers,” Aile said. “Mine are less useful for being embarrassing. Though I probably could get creative with mine…” She trailed off for a moment. “Like forming a chainsaw with my mind when I meet my grandkid’s date for the first time.”

Burris squeaked. “Please don’t.” He paused. “Also I’m pretty sure Sienna’s intimidating enough to not need that anyway.”

“She did inherit my attitude,” Aile noted. “You’re more like Bianca, anyway. Quiet type, someone people liked to write off but… when the chips were down, she came though.” The others fell silent as Aile drummed her fingers on the table. Bianca did basically save Unova the first time, anyway. Not by herself, of course, but no one saved a region by themselves.

“Gotcha,” Burris remarked quietly. How the hell was he supposed to respond to that? _This family sometimes, I swear…_

Liliana glanced out the window as her son talked with his grandma. The sun had just dipped fully below the horizon, the radiant colors it left behind being consumed by the star-studded night sky. She sighed thoughtfully. It was a totally different experience from Unova. You had to go to the farthest reaches of that region to see the stars in their glory, but here? Step a couple of miles outside of a large city and bam.

She sighed contently. Liliana loved it here. She loved her husband could be a gym leader here. She especially loved that her kids could embark on their journeys here. 

“Mom?” Burris’s voice caused Liliana to jump. 

“Sorry! I zoned out!” she said, giggling. 

Aile grinned. “You really haven’t changed all that much.” She shook her head as her grin widened. 

“I’d like to think not,” Liliana replied.

“Soooo… you always liked tormenting people with mind reading?” Burris said.

Aile laughed and clapped. “ _Tried_ to.” The Stufful in her arms chose this moment to jump off of his owner’s lap to freedom. “Psychics can’t read my mind. Dunno why, buuuuut it’s a nice compliment to the whole “form shit with my mind” shenanigans so I can’t bitch too much.”

“I’m pretty sure my children learned all of their swear words from you,” Liliana said, then nodded. “But it’s true. I could never read you, mom.”

“Huh,” Burris said. He couldn’t imagine living in a house as a psychic child with a psychic parent. “You know, I can’t imagine Sienna or I getting powers like you two have.”

“It’s rare. Even if it’s possible to pass down it doesn’t always,” Aile commented. “Your great uncle in Kanto didn’t get them, for instance.” Scientists had tried to divine what genetic coding was passed down to make someone psychic, but never got close. Which was fine and good in Aile’s book. 

“Pretty much,” Liliana said. She glanced out the window again, the stars blanketed across the pure night sky. “Anyway, it’s getting late and Burris has a journey to continue in the morning, so…”

“Right!” Burris said. “It was good to talk to you both!” He said, reaching towards the power button on his PokeNav. “Love you!”

“Yeah, good luck champ. If you see your sister, tell her Grandma said hi!” Aile said. 

“Love you two, sweetie.” Moments after her comment,, Liliana’s screen turned to gray and black fuzz. She reached to turn off the PokeNav, and sighed contently. She hadn’t expected to talk to both Burris and Mom at once. If only Sienna were there too…

Jack lifted his head from his resting position on the ground, turning up and asking Liliana a question.

“Burris is doing well,” Liliana said to her Samurott. “I’m sure Robby is too.”

Jack rumbled in satisfaction, before placing his head back down on his front legs. Liliana stretched her arms out over her head, and then her stomach grumbled.

Right, she hadn’t eaten all day. She supposed relying on her kids to make sure she ate too was a plan destined to fail eventually. 

“Hopefully Sienna and Burris are doing a better job of feeding themselves than I am,” Liliana said to herself, before moving to the stove.


	4. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It

Burris stepped outside and stretched his arms above his head. The night had come and gone, replaced by the blue morning sky. The Taillows chirping and Wingulls calling for one another choked out the sounds of humanity, mostly still asleep.

Burris could feel the dampness of the morning grass squish against his shoes. He mentally swore as he felt his socks get damp. Maybe he should get better shoes… Poke Balls on his belt and blue raincoat covering most of his body, he turned towards Route 102 and walked. He had fought a couple of trainers yesterday over Terri; he wondered how many of them were out this early. 

Burris rubbed his eyes as he passed by a pair of Taillows in a tree. He knew he didn’t have to get up this early, but he’d rather get to Dad sooner rather than later. He liked Petalburg, but he really wanted to try to get through the Petalburg Woods by nightfall. He had heard tales of Phantumps in the woods at night, and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with them.

Though then again, he had Madison with him. He paused, glanced down at the Poke Balls around his waist, and sighed. Right, Jorge and Robby… Usually keeping them separated was a good idea, but they’d eventually have to get along, right? Double battles weren’t all that common, but he knew from Dad that some trainers traveled in pairs. Hell, one of the last gyms most took on was a double battle as well.

He still wasn’t entirely sure about the challenge- why bother with it when he could explore around freely instead- but it was still worth noting. Grabbing for both Robby and Jorge’s capsules, he tossed them out on the path ahead of them. They were towards the edge of Route 102 now, near the last patches of tall grass. Petalburg’s residential area sat alongside in silence still. Though Burris saw an older man taking a Zigzagoon on a walk.

Burris released his Torchic and Oshawott while an odd little alien creature, pale white with green hair covering his eyes, observed. Robby rubbed his eyes while Jorge kicked the ground… but sure enough, seconds passed and the two were staring each other down.

“Guys…” Burris said, his bare knees hitting the ground. He rubbed both of their heads, trying to think of what to do. He felt that Robby thought Jorge was intruding on his space; meanwhile Jorge felt like Robby was being too stuck up and didn’t deserve his respect.

Burris blinked, feeling an odd sensation. Jorge and Robby looked up at the trainer while he looked around the route. “Guess I was just imagining things…” Burris muttered, then shut his eyes and shook his head. He needed to focus. “Look, Robby, I get that you think Jorge is intruding on your space, but… you’re my starter! I’ve known you for my entire life, that doesn’t change now!”

It better not. Robby was practically a slice of home. He turned towards Jorge and nodded.

“And you… please stop trolling Robby. He gets along pretty well with other pokemon, you can ask Mom and hers!” The Torchic tilted his head, putting his best innocent look on. Burris narrowed his eyes at the expression, causing the Torchic to nod and chirp. “And I get it; you were expecting to be _the_ starter, and you are!”

Robby barked at a frenetic pace, waving his little arms in response to this. “Robby, Robby! Oi, you represent home to me. I know this isn’t exactly like your dad and how he was Mom’s starter, but your dad didn’t have all of the memories with Mom that we do already!”

Robby calmed down somewhat, crossing his arms and pouting slightly. Jorge chirped again, and Burris could sense the Torchic’s frustration.

“And you’re my traditional starter. Robby represents home to me, you represent the start of my journey! It’s simple, really!” 

The two seemed to consider Burris’s thoughts, though they still glared at each other out of the corner of their big black eyes. Burris nearly spoke up again, before a soft cry emerged from the grass. 

Burris and his two starters looked slowly towards the grass, a small Ralts staring at them. Burris’ jaw dropped.

“A RALTS!?” Burris shouted, causing the Ralts to nervously cry at this… though it didn’t run. Yet. It waited until Jorge cried and leaped towards the grass. Robby let out an alarmed bark before brandishing his scallop. “No no! Guys it’ll run away!” Burris said, fumbling around for his spare Poke Balls. Dammit Ralts was so rare, he didn’t even know they were here! 

Burris winced as the Ralts teleported moments before Jorge spat fire. The morning dew let off steam as the flames evaporated. An Oshawott’s foot planted itself on the Torchic’s face, Jorge letting out a surprised chirp moments before falling backwards. He vanished into the tall grass with a thud while Robby took to the air. He could see the Ralts reappear only a few patches of grass away, staring up at the beautiful blue sky. 

The Ralts waved at Robby, and a brief moment before Robby would’ve struck, he vanished again in a burst of pink light. Robby waved his arms in a panic before smashing into the grass face first.

Burris sighed as he saw Jorge look around, eyes half closed. Between that and Robby kicking his feet rapidly in a vain effort to free himself from the grass, well, he needed another plan. He grabbed for Terri’s white and red capsule, and started to throw it before…

“Ginnis! You can’t just teleport off like that!”

Burris dropped Terri’s capsule on the ground unceremoniously. It opened in a flash of light, and plopped the Lotad down lily pad first. A boy no older than Burris stepped towards the Ralts, who let out a solemn chirp. His spiked green hair matched the Treecko perched on his shoulder, and Burris couldn’t help but note his cute gray suit.

Which was probably a little too nice to take on a journey like this, but hey. He heard Terri’s legs wobbling in the air as the newcomer picked up the Ralts.

“You’ll be mistaken for a wild pokemon, like he just did,” the boy said sternly. Burris’ eyes widened and he waved his hands in front of him.

“S-sorry!” Burris said. “I didn’t-“

“I wouldn’t have expected you too,” the boy said, with a nod. His eyes traced downwards to Jorge, now waddling up to Burris’ side. “Oh, you’re the one with the Torchic?”

“Ah, yeah,” Burris said, nodding. The Treecko on the other boy’s shoulder let out a series of small cries. “And you have the Treecko…?” Burris trailed off, hoping for a name.

“A-ah! Sorry, that was rude of me!” the boy stammered, eyes widened and tensing up.

Burris chuckled. “Well I guess we’re even now.”

The boy coughed into his free hand. “Right. Well… my name’s Wally,” he said, walking up to Burris. “It’s nice to meet you as well, um.”

“Burris,” Burris replied. Terri croaked out a cry for help. Burris held up a finger to ask for a moment, before bending down and tapping the Premier Ball down on top of the Lotad. It vanished into a flash of light. As Burris stood up, his blue eyes caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a badge pinned on Wally’s shirt. It was a familiar badge, it was… “Oh, you got Dad’s badge already?” Damn, he was losing his edge.

“Dad?” Wally said, tilting his head to the side. His eyes widened as realization struck him. “You’re Eli’s son!?”

Burris chuckled. “Yeah, I am.” He wondered why Birch didn’t tell him anything about Wally for a moment before continuing. “Burris Joseph Juniper.”

“Oh, cool cool!” Wally said, then jumped down in place. “You know the Juniper Foundation, right?” Burris nodded before the now-excited boy continued. “See, I used to be too sickly to go on a journey. I had severe asthma and generally was too tired to go much of anywhere. But earlier this year the Juniper Foundation helped us out, and now I feel great!”

Wally pumped his fist into the air. His excitement waning, he rubbed the back of his head. “S-sorry, I got a little over excited there.”

“No, no, that’s awesome! Honestly,” Burris said. It was odd seeing someone just so… excited for all of this. Sienna was always on top of things and practically treated this like her job. Meanwhile Burris damn near got pushed out of the house. “It’s nice hearing about what they’ve done for people and all of that.”

Of course, knowing Grandma Aile, he wondered just how Wally would react to how, um, blunt she could be if he ever met her. 

Wally blushed slightly. “A-anyway… you’re going to see your dad, right?” he asked. 

“Yeah, of course.” Wally sure seemed like he was going somewhere with this. “Why do you-?”

“Do you mind if I come with you to see him?” Wally said. “I mean, I already have, it, just, well…”

Burris crossed his arms. “Well?” Judging by Wally’s reaction, Burris immediately knew he was too… abrasive with his response. 

Wally blushed and pushed his pointer fingers together, Ginnis having decided to teleport out of them and plop down on his head. “Well it’d be nice to see him with you and all? I’m um…” Wally tapped his chin. “I’m leaving town soon and all so it’d be nice to say goodbye to him?

 _What the hell?_ Burris quirked an eyebrow, but quickly regained his composure. There wasn’t really any reason to be rude to the kid. “Yeah, I mean… I don’t mind you along for this, I guess.” 

The walk was, mercifully, short. Eli’s gym was smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood on the edge of town. The two walked in silence, though Wally wanted to say something to Burris. Burris let out a sigh of relief as he opened the sliding doors to the gym. He couldn’t think of anything to say to Wally to break the silence either, that wasn’t exactly his thing.

Especially with someone who, somehow, was more awkward than he was. 

The inside of the gym was covered in old rustic wood that creaked as Wally and Burris stepped in. Dad said it reminded him of an old dojo, though Burris speculated that Eli just didn’t want to renovate the place or his bosses wouldn’t let him.

“Oh, Wally, Burris!” Burris’s dad waved at them, standing in front of two doors that headed deeper into the gym. His deep blue hair, once spiked, had shortened with age. He paused to raise a cup of coffee to his mouth, taking a swig while the two younger boys waved back. The scent of fresh coffee was rich in the air; Burris had no interest in the stuff, but the smell was relaxing in a way.

“Hey Dad,” Burris said. 

“Hey Mr. Juniper!” Wally said. “We came by to say good bye before we left town.” 

The man smiled and nodded, lowering his gray mug. “World’s Most Inconspicuous Flask” was printed on it. Burris still didn’t know if it was a joke or if Dad liked booze with his coffee. “I figured as much. It feels weird, both of my kids and Wally leaving so soon. I remember when you all were born like it was yesterday.”

He stared off in the distance. “I’d uh, hope you’d remember that,” Burris muttered, then coughed.

Eli chuckled. “Your old man isn’t _that_ old yet.” His eyes widened for a moment and he sighed. “That was sort of dark,” he murmured, then shrugged. “Meh. Anyway, I see you have my badge pinned to your shirt?” 

“Yep!” Wally flashed the Balance Badge proudly. 

“If I can make a suggestion,” Mr. Juniper continued. “I’d find a nice hard case for your badges. Marts sell them. If you’re going on a journey you’re bound to lose your badges if they’re pinned like that.” He pointed his cup of coffee at Wally for emphasis.

“Oh, makes sense!” Wally said, nodding rapidly, then turning to Burris. “You’re going to challenge your dad now, right!?”

Burris’s heart pounded as his eyes dilated. His dad observed with an amused smirk. “W-what!?” he blurted out, glancing back and forth between Wally and his dad. He could barely get Jorge and Robby to get along and Wally was asking him to challenge his dad _Are you fucking kidding-_ “Uh-“

“No, he’s not,” Mr. Juniper said, letting out a hardy chuckle. “I’m fine with letting Birch’s newbies challenge me as their first gym, but I’m not going to just let my kids challenge me right away.”

“Thank god,” Burris muttered. He had other pokemon, but while he liked all of them Madison seemed to be more interested in playing, Sandy would buzz off in search of trash in the middle of a fight, and Terri… was Terri. 

“Huh?” Wally said, tilting his head to the side.

“Gym leaders don’t have to accept all challengers,” Mr. Juniper explained, taking another drink. Conversations were nice, but there were few things more annoying than cold coffee and he wasn’t going to let this mug go to waste. “Sure, it’s implied to be if the trainer is too incompetent or is otherwise ill fit, but… nothing stopping me from wanting a climactic battle with my own kids.”

Wally hummed thoughtfully, hand covering his mouth. “That’s a good point.”

Burris crossed his arms. “Who said I’m even going to get that far in my challenge?” he objected. His dad had his stupid smirk on his face still. “I just want to explore the region, I don’t care about badges or the challenge, I’m not Sienna for god’s sake.”

“Hm,” Eli said. He closed his eyes, the rest of his hot coffee entering his gullet. He let out a long happy sigh before looking back at Burris, the boy’s hands still on his hips as Wally observed with a slight frown. 

“Hm, what?” Burris said, his voice rising slightly.

“If you say so,” Mr. Juniper said, crossing his arms, letting his mug hang on by only a pair of fingers. He spun the empty ceramic around with hardly a thought. “Though you might find that challenging without badges.”

“We’ll see,” Burris said. Well at least dad wasn’t badgering him about this. He had the occasional tendency to get… over enthusiastic. Not as much as he used to, though. Maybe it was Mom rubbing off on him? Or maybe it was the coffee.

“Indeed,” Eli continued, then turned to Wally. “Wally, if you don’t mind? I need to have a quick private talk with my son.”

“Oh, ok!” Wally said, then turned to Burris. “We’ll meet up again later, right?”

Burris blinked. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”

“Great!” Wally’s smile was beaming looked back and waved. Moments later, he exited through the sliding doors. The electronic sound of them snapping shut had barely finished before Mr. Juniper spoke up.

“So, Burris; Mom told me that she was letting you take some of her younger pokemon, right?” he asked, wasting no time.

“Uh, yeah. She let me take Robby along,” Burris said. 

His dad chuckled. “Good,” he said. He moved towards the coffee machine, placing his gray mug on the metal plating. The sound of liquid filling ceramic provided background noise as Eli continued. “So, two things on that front; I have a few younger pokemon around here. Normally I give them to new trainers who don’t catch Birch’s eye, but…”

“But there’s no rules against giving some to me?” Burris finished.

Mr. Juniper chuckled. “You know me too well. I’m not sure which ones yet- and you might have a full team by the time I decide- but I’ll let you know regardless.” He shrugged. “There’s no harm in saying no for the time being, either. You already have five, after all.”

Yeah, that was true. Burris hadn’t considered catching more, but… “Would you take care of some of the others I catch?” he asked, curiosity piqued.

“Of course,” Dad replied, grabbing his mug. Filled to the brim with hot coffee, he leaned it slightly to his mouth to avoid turning his mahogany dress shirt into a hot, wet mess. “I loan out pokemon to people who want to catch their own around here too. I offered that to Wally before Birch chipped in, anyway.”

“Huh,” Burris said. He rubbed his chin. “Gotta say that’s an odd kid to catch Birch’s attention like that.”

Mr. Juniper shrugged. “I’ve known him long enough to say, as a matter of fact, Jim Birch is an incredibly strange man himself.” He took another drink, letting out an “ah”. “So it’s… not really surprising.”

“I don’t think he’s that weird, though,” Burris said, rubbing the back of his head. 

Dad quirked an eyebrow. “Is something about Wally bothering you?”

Burris tilted his head side to side, an uncertain look on his face. “I mean, kinda? He’s a nice kid but the way he just sorta clung to me was odd.”

“Well, he hasn’t had many friends,” Mr. Juniper said, placing his mug down on the small wooden side table. “You know he was really sick, right?” Burrs nodded. His dad shrugged. “He never met many people. He probably doesn’t realize he’s making you feel uncomfortable.”

“He did mention something like that,” Burris muttered, shaking his head.

“So give him a chance.” Eli said, raising his mug. “Who knows what might come out of it? Relationships are a beautiful thing, especially on an adventure like this one. You’re young, you’re free! You get to make your own choices and get to see new places and make new friends…” He trailed off, looking out the window and smiling. “I kinda miss that, honestly. But I wouldn’t trade Liliana, you, or Sienna for the world.”

Burris chuckled. “Gee Dad, I didn’t think you were capable of being that sappy.”

Eli laughed. “Neither did I when I was your age! Your mom can attest to this, I was… a somewhat angry teenager when I started my journey. Seeing you and Sienna happy and free to pursue whatever dreams you want… that’s the ultimate.” He paused and shook his head. “And if that involves not fighting me in a later gym fight or going for the championship, that’s fine too.” 

He set his mug down gently, and walked up to Burris. He remembered back in Unova, when Team Plasma first really started causing trouble. There were rumors of a shadowy organization since even before the Resharim incident, but no one took them seriously until they started to steal pokemon years later. One of them stole his sister’s Purrloin, and then he found out that his dad was, once upon a time, supposed to be the king of Team Plasma and…

“So be happy. Do what you want to do.” And, well, Mr. Juniper didn’t want his kids to be angry on what was supposed to be an amazing journey.. Sure, he met Liliana and his old teammates, but… the anger still tainted the early memories of that journey. “And I’ll support you, promise.”

He held out a fist towards Burris, and the boy grinned and bumped it with his own. 

“Thanks, Dad,” he replied, then hummed. “… Do you think I can make it to Rustboro by night fall? I… don’t want to spend time in Petalburg Woods overnight.”

“The Phantumps, right?” Burris' dad said, then chuckled. “Don’t blame you. If you don’t mess around you should have hours to spare by the time you get out.” He shrugged. “Maybe not all the way to Rustboro, but the other half of Route 104 is pretty peaceful and free of wild pokemon.”

“Fair enough!” Burris said. “I… guess I should get going, then.” 

Mr. Juniper smiled and rustled his son’s brown, lightly spiked hair. It reminded Mr. Juniper of his teenage style a bit. Except not as thick, and less, well, blue.

“That you should. Call me occasionally, ok?” he said.

“I will!” Burris said, waving at his dad while looking back.

As the sliding doors opened, Eli added. “And don’t forget to call your mom, she DOES worry!”

The doors were shut, leaving Mr. Juniper alone. He grabbed for his wallet, an old black leather thing threatening to fall apart. Sure, most people kept their information on their PokeNavs now, but it wasn’t the same. He opened his wallet, and his trainer card stared back.

Eli Harmonia Juniper was written on top of his portrait, updated when he first moved to Hoenn. Small pictures of his main team sat on the bottom, his eyes tracing towards the picture of a Slaking in the sixth slot. He remembered when Liliana found her Bagon, around the same time Eli found his Slakoth. Good times… It was rare he got to battle with his full team nowadays. If he wasn’t the last gym fight someone took on before the Elite Four, he was stuck with normal types. The Blue Rule, they called it. Kanto enacted it out of desperation, badly needing gym leaders, but the rest of the regions adopted it over time.

Though in Eli’s case, it was very common someone took on him before, say, Juan or the psychic twins. Or even Winona. And that was if they didn't take him on first, or second after Roxanne. Most trainers started out from Mauville, Petalburg, or Rustboro nowadays, after all.

Eli folded the card back into his wallet, and looked at the door. And sure, he could’ve blocked trainers from battling against him until later. But he had decided long ago he was saving that for Sienna and Burris. He walked back to the office, mug on his lips. He glanced down at his half empty mug, shaking his head and pulling away.

“Yeah yeah, gotta lay off the coffee,” he muttered, placing the half full mug down before grabbing for his office’s doorknob. Time to see what challengers he had today.


	5. The Forest for the Trees

Petalburg quickly became filled with people. It was a Saturday and not a cloud was in the sky, for the time being. People were walking out towards Route 104 with towels and umbrellas, while children played in the clean ponds. Burris would’ve liked to play in them himself, with his pokemon.

Well Jorge wouldn’t like it. But regardless, Burris didn’t have time. He had to get through Petalburg Woods before night fell. He had heard the stories and rumors surrounding the place, and while Madison was a very good girl and a Dark-type, the trainer didn’t want to press his luck.

So he stepped out onto Route 104. Burris inhaled the salty air, then exhaled with a happy sigh. He didn’t remember much from Unova now, but he did remember that the air wasn’t nearly this clean. He also remembered that his Pokemon would enjoy this too. 

Humming for a moment, he figured it’d be slightly ridiculous to have all of them out at once. What to do… After a moment’s deliberation, he tossed Jorge and Madison’s capsules down on the ground in front of him. Madison turned towards the Torchic, raising her bottom into the air and waggling her little Poochyena tail while staring Jorge down.

Jorge tilted his head to the side in confusion. Madison sat upright and barked at her teammate.

“I don’t think Jorge wants to rough house with you, Madison,” Burris said, walking ahead a bit. Madison whined a little, bounding up to her trainer and nudging Sandy’s pokeball. “I’ll let her out later, Maddy, ok?” Burris said, shaking his head. Route 104 wasn’t all that complicated but letting loose a bunch of critters Burris could barely control felt like an awful idea.

Madison snorted and looked away. She jumped when Jorge’s claws scratched her back gently. Burris quirked an eyebrow at the Torchic hitching a ride, but Madison took a few happy laps around her trainer before continuing to prance by his side.

Burris shrugged as Jorge chirped. “I guess she likes it.” The sound of gentle waves lapping at the shore accompanied their walk. There didn’t appear to be too many trainers out and about right now, though Burris spied a couple having a battle on the beach proper down below. A Zigzagoon hit the ground hard, kicking up a bunch of sand after being sent flying by a Wingull’s Wing Attack. 

Jorge’s chirp brought Burris back to walk ahead of them. A small rickety house caught Burris’ attention. An upscale personal white boat was tied up to the dock outside, rocking gently up and down. A large white sign sat in front of the house, which read FREE RIDES TO DEWFORD* in large red print.

Burris tilted his head. If he didn’t know there was a gym there, he wouldn’t know Dewford even existed. It barely qualified as a town, and he remembered his dad talking about the frequent storms that assaulted the place. Why anyone would live there was beyond him.

Still, curiosity struck. If the rides were free, there was no harm in going there to explore, right? He read down the sign as he got closer. 2 hour rides to and from Dewford (and from there to Slateport as well, apparently) at any hour of the day. For free.

It was a deal almost too good to be true. Burris’ eyes trailed down to the bottom of the sign.

*ONLY FOR TRAINERS WITH AT LEAST ONE GYM BADGE

Burris rolled his eyes, dismissing the sign with a wave and a grunt. Of goddamn course he needed a gym badge. He could probably just /steal/ one of Dad’s badges if he really wanted to… though if he remembered correctly, misrepresenting the amount of badges you had would net a hefty fine and a month-long ban from participating in League activities.

Well, he didn’t care about the latter, but he kicked a rock as he considered the former, the stone bouncing down the path heading towards the forest. He didn’t have that type of money, nor did he want to think about his parents’ reaction to that. 

“Well I could just go through Rusturf,” he muttered. Go through there, hit Verdenturf, and check out Mauville? It’d be cool to see, especially since the leader there was supposedly trying to continue her grandfather’s legacy of improving the town.

“Maybe I could head up to see Mt. Chimney after-“ Burris said, flinching as Madison barked. He spun around to see her growling at a small red bug sitting by the outer ring of Petalburg Wood’s trees. “Oh, a Wurmple?” Burris said, noticing Jorge tensing up as well. 

Still, the Wurmple just… stared back. Burris questioned if someone had super-glued the poor thing’s eyelids open.

“Uh… Jorge, get a closer look?” Burris said, shrugging. The Torchic hopped off and sprinted to the Wurmple’s side, chirping at it with about as much intimidation as a little bipedal chicken could muster. Madison had curled up into a ball and yawned. “Yeah, I feel you there.” What was this Wurmple do-

Jorge yelped and hopped back from the Wurmple as it glowed brilliantly with light. An almost egg-like white shape formed around the worm-like creature, and in seconds the Wurmple had been replaced by a purple cocoon, one red eye staring at the assembled group.

“… Sure! Why not. Spontaneous evolution,” Burris murmured, grabbing for his PokeDex. With a click, the newly evolved Pokemon’s image appeared in his screen. Cascoon, male. Cool, he guessed. “Alright, uh…” He grabbed for a red and white capsule. “I… guess I’ll catch you now? Stuart? Does that work for a name?”

The Cascoon’s shell stiffened a bit. 

“Well if you don’t like it, too bad,” Burris said. Hurling the PokeBall at Stuart, it shook three times before giving an affirmative click. “Uh,” he said, glancing down at the half-asleep Poochyena by his feet. He spun around, bending over to get a closer look.

“Madison!” he said in a higher pitched voice, hands on his knees. The Poochyena sprung to life, barking and staring up expectantly at her trainer. What was so exciting all of a sudden? “Go get it!” Get what? She saw Burris pointing at the Poke Ball by Jorge. “Go get the Poke Ball, Maddy!”

Maddy panted as she sprinted off. She scooped up Stuart’s capsule, her teeth gripping gently around it. She felt Jorge hop back onto her back as she ran back to Burris.

Burris chuckled as he observed Jorge’s stubby wings waggle around, hanging on for dear life on the speeding Poochyena. Madison stopped right at Burris’ feet, and he grabbed the capsule and clicked it onto his belt. Still a little saliva-y, but oh well.

“Good girl!” Burris said, bending down to pet the dog. Madison barked and waggled her butt… which caused Jorge to lose his grip. With a plop, the Torchic fell face first onto the ground, Poochyena and trainer looking on with mild concern.

Jorge pulled himself up, small specs of dirt and a pebble or two clinging to his face. Burris laughed and brushed the Torchic’s face off.

“You ok?” Burris said. Jorge’s eyes wobbled around while Madison provided an apologetic bark. Plodding up to Jorge’s side, she licked some of the dirty off of his face. Jorge shook his head with force, causing spittle and specks of dirt to fly off. He stared back up at Burris, his beak approximating a wide grin. “Yeah, I think you’re ok.”

The light dimmed in the area, and Burris looked up to see a sea of clouds forming in front of the bright sun, in front of a wall of gray not too far off in the distance. He glanced back at the beach, seeing a few people packing up their stuff. Must be storms soon. Jorge looked up at the sky, quieter than usual.

“Petalburg Woods will be safe,” Burris said, walking again, Torchic and Poocheyna by his side as he walked towards the dark maw leading into the woods interior.

The sky soon turned a dark gray, blocking off what little sunlight would normally illuminate the forest’s interior. Rain roared down on the canopy of trees, and Burris couldn’t help but be grateful for the protection now. Still, Jorge looked around at the droplets rolling off of the pine trees, jumping when a droplet hit him. Madison, in the meantime, eyed up the occasional raindrop before trying to bite it.

“Jorge, it’ll-“ Burris started, before a thunderous crash of lightning rang out, providing a flash of light. Jorge shrieked before sprinting to his trainer’s side. Burris could feel the warmth of the shaking chicken against his leg. Shaking his head, he grabbed Jorge’s capsule. “Just stay in your Poke Ball,” he said quietly. Jorge settled down as he vanished into a red beam of light. 

Of course, Burris realized after placing the Torchic’s capsule back in its rightful place, he had other teammates that would enjoy the rain. Grabbing for Terri and Robby, he tossed them out in front of them. Lotad and Oshawott splashed down with some force, water splashing over their companions

Robby looked around for two seconds before clapping. With a bark, he began to sprint around the forest floor with his stubby arms outstretched. Madison barked rapidly and began to sprint after the Oshawott. 

Burris laughed as he observed the two, water flinging off of the former’s wet fur. Meanwhile, he saw Terri sitting on a patch of soaking wet ground, unprotected by the trees. Water filled his lily pad for only a moment, before being absorbed by the positively beaming Lotad. “I guess you have a more low key definition of excitement, huh Terri?” Burris said, walking ahead. Terri quacked affirmatively, stubby legs working to keep up. “Yeah, I can’t say that’s a bad thing...”

Burris glanced back and whistled at the two playmates. Focusing on the path ahead, he could still hear the splashes of paws and feet in the puddles behind them, another instrument in the raucous cacophony of water nature was providing now. It came to a crescendo as Maddy, then Robby a split second later, sprinted past Burris and Terri.

They stopped a few feet in front. Both looked back at Burris, eyes demanding an answer for the winner.

“I think Madison got you there, Robby,” Burris said, wincing a little at the shocked look on the Oshawott’s face. Madison, meanwhile, pranced ahead. “And she probably could beat you again if she wanted, I bet.”

Robby huffed and looked away, stubby arms crossed. He’d get over it, Burris figured. His attention was quickly yanked away by a croak from his Lotad.

“Oh,” Burris said, looking up. The rain gently pattered against the roof of trees, the clouds thinning just enough in places to show the sun dipping below its peak. “Yeah, looks like it’s slowing down a bit Terri.” Burris paused as his PokeNav buzzed.

He picked it up, glanced at the word “Dad” that popped onto the black screen, and tapped the green phone button.

“Hey!” Eli said, holding up a Slakoth, who snorted. “I realized after you left I should give you one of my Slakoths! This one is Dana, she’s a little… mischievous, but I think you’d like her.”

Translation; I have a Slaking and it’d be cool if you had one too.

Burris shook his head. “Sorry Dad, I already have my sixth. Wurmple I caught on the way into the woods, she’s already a Cascoon.”

“Oh, is that right?” Eli said, chuckling. “Well Dana won’t be going anywhere. Plus I think you’ll find your new bug friend useful once you hit Dewford’s Gym.”

“Yeah, ok. I can’t even get there without a badge,” Burris said. His screen jolted, and moved to show Terri’s blank stare. “Unless you want me to try to ride on the sea with a Lotad, anyway.”

The camera moved back to Burris as Eli shrugged. “Well your mother would actually try to kill me if I endorsed that… so… no.”

“And I’m not going for even one badge, so…”

“You sure about that?”

“Positive.”

Eli shook his head. “Suit yourself. You’d be able to explore around much more with even one or two badges, though…”

“I’m sure.” _Translation; You’re full of shit, Dad._ “Anyway, I gotta get going. It’s not too late yet, but I’m only about halfway through the forest now.”

“Only? I’m impressed. Guess the storm must’ve cleared out the youngsters around there.” Eli waved before reaching to the screen. “Anyway I should go myself, I have a trainer battle in about 5 minutes. A newbie fight, but still. Make sure to call your mom once you settle in at Rustboro!”

“Will do!” Burris replied, and the screen went blank. The trainer looked up, and the clouds were threatening once more. “At this rate I might have to worry more about the humidity than the Phantump,” he muttered to no one in particular. He could feel the sweat permeate his clothes. Ugh. He could hear Sienna calling him a wimp for caring about his clothes being uncomfortable _well how would you feel if your un-_

Madison barked, sprinting around her trainer’s legs. “Alright, alright! We’ll get moving again! And Robby, stop chopping at the tree with your scallop!”

Robby chirped out an objection, but still rushed to catch up to the rest of the group. The steady drumbeat of rain slowly returned again, and before long turned into a torrent slamming into the trees. Terri was yards ahead of the group, greedily absorbing as much rain as Lotad-ly possible. Madison sprinted off to the side of the path to sniff some of the flowers, pausing to mark a particularly interesting one.

“You realize the rain is going to wash that off, right?” Burris said. Madison ignored him. Burris walked ahead for a few moments, towards a bend in the forest. The sound of feet not his own stomping on wet grass gave him pause, and moments later a short-haired brunette, wearing a red raincoat not unlike Burris’ blue one and a pair of jeans popped into sight. 

“Oh, Sienna!” Burris said. Sienna jumped as her gaze moved up from the ground to her brother’s. 

“Oh, hey Burris,” Sienna said, scanning him up and down. His small squad assembled by his side. “Still wearing shorts, I see?”

Burris glanced down at his black gym shorts… and the cuts scattered about his legs. “Uh, yeah,” he said, a stupid grin crossing his face. “I mean, they’re comf-“

“Don’t,” Sienna said, hands on her hips. “That commercial is stupid, will forever be stupid, and when we’re all long dead and aliens research our long lost civilization they’ll find it stupid, too.”

Burris rubbed his head. “I mean, that doesn’t change the fact it’s true?” 

“It doesn’t change the fact you have an awful sense of humor,” Sienna said, eyes narrowed for a moment. “Anyway… you’re headed to Rustboro, right?”

“Yeah. Spend the night in the city, go out in the morning and check out the surrounding areas,” Burris said. “I’ve got enough of a team for protection.” 

Robby crossed his arms and emphatically nodded.

“He sure seems up to the task, anyway,” Sienna said, then shook her head. “Though since you can’t swim…” Burris raised an eyebrow. “Well Rusturf had a cave-in recently. It’ll be a week or so before they dig out, or so they say.”

“But there’s Route 115, right?” Burris said. He had checked his PokeNav’s map, he had considered his options!

“There’s a large cliff and ocean cuts people off from going much of anywhere.” Sienna glanced between Burris’ pokemon. “And since I doubt your pokemon can ferry you across water, and I know damn well you don’t have a boat…”

Burris slumped over. “But the only other way to go anywhere is-“

“- to get a badge and sail with Briney to Dewford,” Sienna replied, shrugging. Even in the darkness, she could see a bit of color drain from Burris’ face. “Uh, yeah.” She rubbed the back of her head. “So you kinda need to at least beat Roxanne.”

Burris sighed, head drooping down towards the ground. So he either had to wait a week or beat an honest to god Gym Leader to go anywhere. What, was Madison going to piss on Roxanne’s rock types? It’d be more effective than what Jorge and Sandy could do, not to mention the cocoon he had been lugging around.

“Well I guess I’m stuck here, then,” Burris said, tossing his hands up. “And Rustboro is the most boring large city on the face of the planet.”

“Well, there’s the Devon Corp. Though they’ve had some… issues with those Team Aqua grunts lately.” Sienna shrugged. “Not really sure why; one grunt tried to steal their parts for a submarine but he was a total joke.”

“Wow, a corporation,” Burris said, rolling his head and eyes in unison. “Really great advice there, sis.”

Sienna turned away and crossed her arms. “Well I’m trying to help you here. Besides that… I mean, you have an Oshawott and a Lotad, right?” Robby nodded so fast his head might pop off; Terri croaked. 

“Yeah?” Burris said. “What does- ooooooh. Rock type.”

“There you go,” Sienna said, grinning. “She’s not so difficult. Train a little, rely on those two, you’ll be fine. Peach and Tsunami carried me through her without much issue.”

“Petilil and… Mudkip?”

“Marshtomp.”

“… Oh.” 

“It might do you some good to evolve your Torchic, too,” Sienna added. “But up to you. Roxanne’s really not too…” She paused, the glimmer in her emerald green eyes betraying her joke. “Hard.”

“Booooooo.” Burris cupped his hands around his mouth. Madison snarled a little.

A sheepish grin was plastered on Sienna’s face. “I guess your bad humor is rubbing off on me,” she said. “Anyway I gotta go. The storm’s supposedly going to let up soon and I’d like to make it to Dewford overnight, at the least.” 

“Right,” Burris said, waving at Sienna as she walked past. “See you around, sis!” After she vanished, Burris peaked up at the sky. The rain dripped down from the tree tops, but the clouds were quiet. “Guess it is ending soon…” 

Terri cried, a sad cry. Burris chuckled.

“Eh, it’s Hoenn. The rain always comes back before you know it.”

-

A sunset painted the horizon with orange and reds as Burris exited Petalburg Woods. A heavy, relieved, sigh followed. Not a moment too soon. He hoped Sienna got out too. Ghost types were not anyone’s friends. The single most amazing thing Burris had heard from his dad was that there was an Elite Four member who actually _trained the damn things_.

“They probably ate her soul and she didn’t realize it,” Burris muttered. Sandy barked. The Zigzagoon carried Stuart on her back; the Cascoon still stared up at Burris with his lone red eye and let out a cranky cry. “You’re the one who put yourself in this situation, you have no one else to blame but yourself,” Burris said to the cranky cocoon. He glanced up at the stars dotting the encroaching night sky, the city lights automatically flicking on to deflect the impending darkness. 

Whatever trainers usually dotted this route had gone home for the night, leaving Burris along with his two pokemon. Sandy walked alongside, performing the slowest zigzags known to her kind to make sure the rider didn’t fall off. If the Cascoon appreciated this, he didn’t show it.

“You’re not going to sprint off at the first sign of trash, are you?” The Zigzagoon snapped in response. “You kinda earned this reputation, I did find you in a dumpster…” Sandy looked away and huffed. “What, can’t take a joke?” Burris felt his steps move from the soft dirt to the wet stone of Rustboro’s streets, and stopped for a moment to grab his PokeNav.

“Alright, there’s gotta be a PokeCenter here of all places.” It was one of the larger cities on this side of Hoenn… He scrolled through his map for a moment, zooming in on Rustboro and bam. “Block away from the gym, middle of town,” he murmured. Easy enough to remember. This was a bigger town, but no one would say it was hard to navigate.

Burris stretched his arms over his head, groaning as he felt his tense muscles relax a bit. “Walked a ton today,” he said. “I guess I should’ve figured that out when Madison was tired of walking.” The streets were mostly empty, the occasional older man out and about looking for a bar or something or another. _Fine by me._

Before long, Burris stopped in front of the red roofed PokeCenter. “It’s not all that different from Petalburg’s.” He shook his head. “None of them are that different. Unless it’s, like, Dewford or something… right.” He walked towards the glass doors, opening up to welcome him in. “Gotta train some tomorrow.” 

That was new. Actual training. Huh. “If the day’s nicer tomorrow more trainers will be out. Maybe that’ll do.”

With that, the doors slid shut behind him and his two companions, leaving them in the safety of the PokeCenter for the night.


	6. Glimmering Bronze

Route 115 was always a popular route, especially in the summer months. Not only was it near a population center, it was also often used to travel between Mauville and Rustboro. Trainers were frequently seen out here, and today workers that were on break intermingled with them.

“Terri, Teeter Dance!”

The older man grimaced as the Lotad spun around, letting out a droning quack that could inspire madness in a man if exposed to it for too long.

“Muscles, don’t look at it!” he ordered. Too late; the Machop’s eyes began to roll, his surroundings spinning around him in a blur. “Dammit…” The worker clenched his teeth. Burris grinned; while he had spent time training with most of his pokemon at this point, he quietly enjoyed battling with Terri a ton.

“Uh, Bubble!” Burris shouted, Terri spitting a spree of light blue bubbles outwards. The force of them popping caused Muscles to lurch backwards. 

“Muscles, try to get a hold of yourself! Focus Energy!” The words distorted in the Machop’s mind, slurred. The Machop glanced at Terri, the spinning Lotad at the corner of his right eye. The Machop thrust a Karate Chop into his opponent’s face, and felt wet grass and dirt cake his hand.

Moments later, his face hit with a soft thud.

“Aw,” the worker said, the Machop vanishing into a thin red light. “You did good, Muscles.” He shrugged. “And I gotta admit, kid, you’ve got yourself quite a Lotad there!” he said, laughing.

Burris rubbed the back of his head. Terri quacked. “Yeah, no kidding. I think the others might be getting slightly jealous.” Well, not Sandy anyway. Sandy preferred to mess around instead of fighting, it seemed. _You and I both._

“Hah!” The worker clapped. “Anyway, you’re challenging the gym, yeah?”

“Yeah, actually,” Burris said. “I got to Rustboro last night. Spending today training and taking on Roxanne tomorrow morning.”

The worker flashed a thumbs up. “Cool, it’s nice to get a chance to fight younger challengers.” He rubbed the stubble on his chin in thought, before stretching his arms above his head with a grunt. “Suppose I should head back to get Muscles healed before work.”

“Sounds good! Try to have fun clearing the tunnel?” Burris said with an uncertain look on his face, shrugging.

Shouting could be heard that amounted to “break’s almost over!” followed by some swearing followed by something akin to “lazy bums”. The worker shook his head.

“Yeah, I’ll try.” He waved and walked off, shoulders slightly slumped.

Burris watched him shrink off into the distance, then felt a buzz. A message from Dad. He had a Whismur for Burris, named Ace. Burris shook his head. "Thanks, but I have a full team," he sent back. Slipping his PokeNav back into his pocket, he glanced down at Terri. The Lotad stared up into the sun, eyes seemingly glowing. “You ok, Terri?”

No response.

“Um…” Suddenly, Terri burst with light. Burris covered his eyes. “Whoa!” The Lotad’s form began to shift. Her stubs began to grow, two forming clawed arms and two formed gangly legs. The rest of her body twisted into a thin bipedal form. The shifting slowed, and just as soon as it came the light ceased, bursting outwards.

Burris opened his eyes after a thin trail of light passed through him. Terri was still there, but the small stubby frog had been replaced by something much larger and humanoid. “Whoa…” he murmured, grabbing for his PokeDex.

He managed to catch Terri staring back at him in a picture. Lombre, evolution of Lotad. Could use its limbs to attack with moves such as Fake Out and Fury Swipes. “Cool.” Much better than Wurmple’s evolution into… a cocoon. “You alright?”

Terri looked down at her limbs, and cried out. She didn’t seem to be in pain. Burris winced a little as he considered his limbs suddenly quadrupling in length with no warning. “Well, seems like it,” he said, grabbing for a couple of capsules. “Robby, Jorge, come on out!” It only dawned on Burris that he had tossed out three capsules as they were at the height of their arc.

Torchic and Oshawott plopped down on the ground, and a Cascoon joined them. “Oh.” Right, Stuart. The Cascoon had barely fought, though Burris admitted his bug-type fared better than he’d have thought. Robby blinked at the sight of Terri, waddling up to him with a white stubby appendage slapped on his chin. Jorge chirped out a question, sharing in Robby’s thoughtful sentiment.

Terri croaked and nodded. Robby jumped up an inch or so off the ground, and placed his right arm out. The Lombre stared for a moment before lowering his right arm, and gently bumped Robby’s fist with his own.

Jorge nodded and chirped out… something else. Burris couldn’t understand what, but judging by how the Torchic looked at Robby and that the Oshawott’s jaw dropped a little, well…

“Jorge,” Burris said sternly. Too late; Robby was barking up a storm, wiggling his arms in a rage. Jorge laughed at first… until Robby grabbed his scallop. “Hey, Robby, no, bad!” Jorge squeaked as Robby chased him, sprinting past Terri on the way to the Cascoon, staring at the group with his usual annoyed gaze.

Jorge jumped up onto Stuart. Robby’s weapon planted itself into the dirt where the Torchic had stood moments earlier.

“Guys…” Burris said, then groaned and looked to Terri. “Terri, go grab them before they do something dumb to Stuart, please?” Burris could do it himself, but, well, he trusted his Lombre to take an accidental Razor Shell or an Ember better than he could. Robby grunted, yanking his seashell-like weapon out of the ground and shaking off the dirt. 

Terri’s lengthy arms wrapped around air, the targeted Oshawott leaping onto Stuart. Terri sighed as he observed the water type threaten Jorge with a few scallop swipes. The Cascoon’s lone red eye narrowed.

“Don’t worry, you just evolved Terri,” Burris said, patting the Lombre gently on the head. “Besides, they’ll have to-“

Burris was interrupted by- of all things- yet another burst of light. Stuart suddenly glowed with energy, blinding almost all around him and sending Jorge and Robby tumbling to the ground. The cocoon’s top broken open entirely, moth-like wings emerging from it.

Seconds later, the cocoon shattered, what remained of it dissolving as it exploded outwards. Burris rubbed his eyes, Jorge and Robby sat up on the ground and stared up, and Terri waved at Stuart, now a moth-like Dustox.

Yellow eyes now narrowed, he glared down at Torchic and Oshawott, and snapped up a storm. Wings beating and Stuart’s body moving around wildly, Burris could only imagine the Dustox swearing at the two starters. Whatever he was actually saying, Robby and Jorge elected to quickly retreat behind Burris, who chuckled as he felt them shaking on his legs.

“Well, that’s what you get for fighting with each other,” Burris said, nodding. “You feeling all right, Stuart?”

Like a flash, Stuart’s anger was gone, replaced by a smile and wide eyes. He cried out and fluttered next to Burris’ side. “Hah, that’s good. It’s incredible how you and Terri handled such extreme changes, I don’t think I ever could.”

-

The walk back into civilization was a quick one. A business city, Rustboro was pretty quiet during the day. Most people were either working in one of the office buildings, in the gym, or out training on one of the routes nearby. Burris hummed to himself as he walked along, Stuart and Terri by his side. He figured the two needed to get used to their new bodies still, judging by how slow the Lombre had been going at times.

Even then, Terri had started to keep pace more and more as they got deeper into Rustboro. _Pokemon are incredible,_ Burris intoned. Stuart seemed to have almost no issue fluttering about, on the other hand. He’d occasionally fly ahead, stop, look back, and mosey towards his trainer.

“So you’re only cranky as a cocoon, huh?” Burris asked. The Dustox let out a non-committal chirp. “Well, and when Robby and Jorge fight around you.” A confirming cry. Burris chuckled. “Yeah, I can’t blame you there…” Though he also wondered what in the hell Jorge said to get Robby that riled up. Hm. His mind drifted for a few moments before being brought back to reality by a glimpse of sunlight reflecting off of bronze.

Burris slowed down just outside the tallest building in town. Once no more than five stories tall, the Devon Corp building seemed like it could pierce the clouds lazily passing above. Daylight highlighted the cold iron exterior.

And in front of it sat a statue of a man. It dwarfed Burris and his companions as they walked into its shadow.

“Wonder who it is?” Burris questioned. Terri yanked at the waistline of his black gym shorts, then pointed down at the base. “Oh. Of course.” The boy sighed, tossed his hands up and rolled his eyes. “I love asking easily answered questions, they make me feel so smart.”

He bent down to get a better look. “In Memory of Steven Stone,” Burris murmured. Dates and “we miss him dearly” followed. “Huh.” Burris rubbed his chin, standing upright. He had read about the man once or twice, anyone in Hoenn would’ve. He was a champion and the CEO of the biggest company in the region.

“Like it?” a stranger’s voice called. An older tan man, wrinkles covered by makeup, walked towards Burris. The boy immediately took note of the fiery orange sunglasses, contrasting sharply with his shorter silver hair. “Figured the old man deserved a statue like this. Costs a lot to maintain but, well, I might as well be made of friggin money.”

He laughed, and it suddenly clicked who this was. “Oh, you’re...” Burris started, then trailed off. Dammit, he knew the name-

“Clarence Stone,” the man replied, waving off Burris. “Don’t waste the brain cells, kid.” He stopped by Burris’ side. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Though you’re new here, aren’tcha?”

“Well, I traveled to Rustboro once with dad on League business,” Burris replied, shrugging with his hands in his pockets. “Didn’t really like it.”

“Eh, it’s pretty boring,” Clarence said, glancing down at the sleek black PokeNav on his wrist. Much smaller than Burris’ phone-like model, it looked like a larger smartwatch. “Believe me, meetings aaaaall the friggin time. Got one with some dumbass named Matt in like five minutes.”

“Couldn’t you like, delegate it?” Burris asked.

“Aaaaah, kid,” the CEO let out a long sigh. “Look, something you learn quickly in this world; you wanna get something done right, you do it yourself!” He turned towards the two pokemon by Burris’ side, and his eyes lit up. “Oh! You mentioned your dad was in the league?”

“Y-yeah?” Burris asked.

“Lemme think…” Clarence said, staring at his fingers for a few seconds, folding them in as he crossed names off the list. Eventually, he reduced the options down to two, and then snapped his fingers “Wait, of course, you’re that Eli guy’s kid!”

Burris looked away, crossing his arms. “Yeah, one of his. Name’s Burris.”

“Huh,” Clarence said, looking down at Burris, his fierce green eyes peeking over his glasses. _Guess someone whose dad is named friggin N is bad with names. Dunno why I’m surprised,_ Mr. Stone intoned. The CEO ruffled Burris’ hair, earning Clarence an annoyed grunt. “Anyway kiddo, you look like a natural with Pokemon, and I’d love to stay and assault you with questions, but I reaaaaaally need to go meet with this dope, so…” 

At this, Clarence walked off, waving with his back turned. “Seeya around, kid.”

Burris and Terri gave equally confused waves as they watched the Stone vanish from view. The Lombre looked up and gave her trainer a questioning croak. Stuart seemed to share Terri's sentiment.

Burris shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” 

-

It didn’t take long for Burris to reach the PokeCenter once more. He tried to figure out his plans for the evening. Rustboro, for all of its faults, did have nice restaurants. And he had gotten a healthy amount of money from his parents too… 

“Maybe I could go out to eat,” Burris considered. He took no more than two steps into the building before his PokeNav buzzed. “Grandma Aile?” Burris said, tapping the device.

“Hey there, kid!” Aile said, waving. An Eevee sat on her lap, gnawing on a Poke Ball. “So cutting to the chase; your mom told me what was up with you and your Oshawott, so I figured I could help too.”

“Oh,” Burris said. Jonesy’s bell on his black collar jingled in the background. “So you’re gonna give me Jonesy, then?” He had met the Eevee a couple of times when visiting his grandparents. Fluffy little bugger.

“Yep!” Aile said, nodding. “Course if you have a full team-“

“No, no, that’s fine!” It wasn’t a Slakoth or a Whismur or something. “I’ve got one that doesn’t seem to like to fight, so…” Of course, Madison would miss the Zigzagoon, but if Sandy didn’t like to fight she was better off hanging out with Dad.

“Yeah, I had a Purrloin like that,” Aile said. The PokeNav screen jostled as Burris made his way to the PC. The desktop towered over Burris as he approached. He tossed out Sandy by his side, the Zigzagoon appearing in a flash. Likewise, so did Madison, wagging her tail and looking up at Burris expectantly.

“Sandy?” Burris said. The raccoon tilted her head up. “I know you don’t like to fight, but would you be ok with hanging out at Dad’s instead? He’ll take good care of you!” 

Sandy and Madison’s expressions drooped in an instant.

“And I’ll visit you, Sandy. Promise. With Madison.”

The two glanced at each other, before Sandy barked. Madison nodded, and yipped in response. She seemed uncertain, but…

Burris nodded, tapping the raccoon on the head with her capsule. “See ya, Sandy,” he said. He placed the capsule on the PC system, a clear piece of glass opening up to let Burris place it down on a metal platform. The blue screen filled with letters, and Burris typed in Dad’s address, and a note.

“Dad; This is Sandy the Zigzagoon. She dislikes fighting, but I know you have programs for those types of pokemon to be useful too. Also I got an Eevee from Grandma Aile,” he wrote. Burris looked over his message once, then pressed send. The screen cleared, and in a flash Sandy’s capsule was gone.

He breathed in heavily, then exhaled. Burris brought up his PokeNav again. “Grandma? We’re ready on our end.”

Aile nodded, grabbing Jonesy’s slightly damp Poke Ball away from him. “Jonesy? Do you wanna go on an adventure?” She pointed at the screen. The Eevee chirped, brown eyes nearly consuming the screen after he closed in.

Burris waved. “Hi there.” Jonesy yipped.

“He’ll be over in a bit,” Aile said. Jonesy’s face turned into red light, and he vanished into his Poke Ball. Aile moved the Poke Ball offscreen, and Burris heard her press a few keys. 

Seconds later, Jonesy’s Poke Ball appeared where Sandy’s had been moments earlier.

“Got him,” Burris said, placing the ball on his belt. “Thanks, Grandma.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it,” Aile said. “Just make sure to take care of him, alright? Ravage loves the little bugger.” _He’d like to see him again someday._

“Of course!” Burris said. Madison whined at Burris, nudging Jonesy’s Poke Ball. “I guess I should get going, Madison’s getting impatient with me.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Just keep me up to date, champ.”

With that, the PokeNav screen turned black. Burris slipped it into his small green backpack, used for day hikes, before looking down at Madison. “Look, we’ll get you two introduced when we get to my ro-“

“You’re telling me you have no rooms left?” Burris blinked at the familiar voice. He glanced to the right, seeing a somewhat flustered Wally standing at the counter, knuckles white as he gripped the hard red surface.

The pink haired nurse shook her head. “I’m sorry, we gave yours up when you checked out,” she explained.

Wally sighed sharply. “I guess.” Burris scanned him once over; Wally’s backpack was tiny, like Burris’ day bag. Likely held medicine, snacks, and a few PokeBalls… Burris questioned if anyone in Wally’s family had been a trainer, having a bigger bag was almost a necessity.

Especially, if, well, the PokeCenter was full for the day. Burris’s eyes looked to a particularly boring corner of the room as he thought. Wally had probably aimed to get back through the woods today, but judging off of Burris' trip... well, Wally would've taken part of his trip in darkness. Which meant Phantumps.

Well, if nothing else, Burris had his own sleeping supplies. 

“Wally? You can stay in my room,” Burris offered. Even before Burris caught sight of Wally’s glowing eyes, gratefulness and excitement radiated off the boy.

“Really? That’d be amazing, Burris!” Wally chimed. He walked up Burris smiling, but a flash of white from one of Burris’ capsules interrupted him. Jonesy’s bell jingled, his ears flopped around him as he wiggled his head. Madison barked and sat down in front of the normal type, looking down expectantly. “Oh, you have an Eevee?” Wally said, bending down to a knee. Burris eyed the smudged nose mark on Jonesy's capsule and rolled his eyes.

Jonesy looked up at the Poochyena and waggled his tail, one ear now flopped down over his left eye. 

“Yeah, Grandma sent me him,” Burris explained, relaxing. Jonesy booped Madison’s nose with a right paw, the dark type’s eyes widening as he skittered back a couple of steps. Wally grinned as his right hand rubbed the soft fluff on top of Jonesy’s head. 

As the Eevee nuzzled against Wally’s hand, Madison groaned happily while Burris rubbed her coarser fur. The relative peace didn’t last long; Jonesy stood up on his hind paws, popping Madison in the jaw with a gentle left paw. The Poocheyna barked as she jumped for Jonesy, trapping the Eevee on the ground. The bell ringing filled the air as Jonesy struggled against the playful pin.

“They’re cute together, aren’t they?” Wally asked.

Burris nodded. “Yeah.”

-

Eli grabbed Sandy’s Poke Ball from his personal computer, a sleek black desktop with the Hoenn League’s logo imprinted on the side. The glass casing slid close with a click on the transfer device.

He chuckled after finishing Burris’ message. “Oh, so her normal types are perfectly fine?” Fake wounds aside, Eli grabbed for his PokeNav as it buzzed to life. A message from his mother-in-law…

“so how does it feel that g-ma gave ur kid a normal type b4 u,” Aile wrote.

Eli frowned. “He’ll come around to them,” he typed back. How the hell did Aile know- Liliana. Of course. _I love you, honey, but…_

“sure. like ull “come around” from being the worst trainer in the family.”

Eli quirked an eyebrow, a fire kindling in his gut.

“Just because I’ve never been champion doesn’t mean I’m bad.” Sent. Eli barely had time to place his phone down before it buzzed again.

“ull be worse than burris and sienna when this is all done.” 

The fire roared. _You motherfucker._ Twenty goddamn years of marriage to Liliana and Aile still pulled this shit…

“Oh really? We’ll see about that. They get to fight my personal team.” He pressed send, and slammed it down on the counter. There was nothing she could say to-

“well i see why burris didnt accept ur normals.” Typing… “u dont have confidence in them either.”

Eli stared at the screen, scowling as his anger came roaring back. This goddamn woman. He went to grab his PokeNav, then paused. A sharp inhale, a slow exhale, and a sip of coffee. He felt the fire subside for a bit, enough to reply with an even head.

“new phone who dis.”

Nailed it. Eli rolled his eyes and set his phone down with force.

He mouthed a “goddammit”, and leaned back into his chair, the plastic creaking. He sighed sharply again, wrestling his anger back under control. He felt the fire in his gut simmer down to coals, and elected for a distraction to finish it. He checked his schedule for tomorrow. A couple of first badge fights, one or two seconds. Not much else.

He couldn’t wait until he saw Sienna and Burris on the schedule. He loved them, but there was no way he was going to lose.

“Otherwise I might need a new PokeNav.” He paused. “After chucking this one off a bridge.”


	7. Night and the City

After wrestling Madison and Jonesy away from each other, the walk up to Burris’ room was quick and easy. It was built like any other PokeCenter room, clean white tiling contrasting with the dull gray walls. A lone bed sat by a windows, covered by a cheap curtain that currently kept out the descending sun. 

“It kinda amazes me how large these rooms are,” Wally murmured, slipping the strap of his backpack off and looking around. “Um, where can I-?”

“Just put it near my stuff,” Burris said. He jabbed a thumb towards the opposite corner of the room from the bed. The door to the bathroom sat nearby. 

Wally blinked, but slowly walked towards Burris pile and set the bag down. A hiking bag, a tent, a slumber bag… Wally sighed a little. “I… think I underpacked,” he said quietly, rubbing the back of his head.

Burris chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t know how much money you have but it’s pretty much essential for a trainer to pack a tent and such,” he said. “If you wanted to, we could go out and buy some?”

Wally glanced down at his PokeNav. Flipping through a few screens, he skimmed his inventory. Well… “I-I should be able to afford that,” Wally said, nodding. His family wasn’t rich by any stretch of the imagination. However, the side effect of all of the Juniper Foundation help was that he had money to go on an adventure too. He looked back towards Burris with a slight aura of awe. He squished his pointer fingers together. “Well, because of your family, anyway.”

“Right,” Burris said. He didn’t know half of it. He felt a light rumble in his stomach. “Anyway, I was thinking about going out to eat tonight, do you want to come al-“

“Sure!” Wally said, nodding. He blushed for a moment after sniffing himself. “A-after cleaning up anyway, ehe.”

 _I mean, it’s just a sports bar…_ “Yeah, sure. The bathroom should be open.”

Wally dug through his light green school bag, bringing out a towel and a change of clothes along with a plain blue bar of soap.. Burris raised an eyebrow at the sight of another gray and white suit, not unlike the one Wally was wearing now. 

“… are you sure you don’t want something more comfortable for adventuring?” Burris questioned. Wally tensed up for a moment. “N-not that it’s a bad outfit! I just, well, can’t see that being comfortable.”

Wally shrugged a little. “I guess it kind of isn’t.” He had struggled a bit towards the end of his hike through the woods between the humidity and the exercise. Clothes were too tight and not aerodynamic enough. He was just...used to that. “I just don’t know what else I’d wear, really.”

Burris plopped down on his bed, bare legs kicking idly against the cheap metal frame. “I mean, gym shorts and a t shirt are a good start. Plus a solid raincoat for all of the rain we get,” he suggested. “Bike shorts too, if you like them.”

“Aren’t those extremely form fitting?” Wally asked, raising an eyebrow at Burris. A grin crossed the boy’s face.

“I mean, you act like that’s a bad thing,” he teased gently.

Wally’s face flared red.

“I’m just… g-going to shower.” 

After his vanished, Burris’s head hit the pillow. Ok, maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned the bike shorts, but they were comfortable! Honest. The metal rings screeched and moments later the roaring water provided a pleasant white noise. Burris felt his eyes droop a little. 

Well, today had been busy. A small nap couldn’t hurt.

“Burris?” Wally’s quiet voice nudged Burris awake. His eyes fluttered open, the sunlight replaced by street lights. Grumbling, the metal of his bed whined as he sat upright. Wally flicked on the lights.

“Mrgh, you could’ve warned me.” 

“I didn’t get one for the bike shorts,” Wally replied idly, adjusting his long green hair. 

“I swear to god they’re comfortable.” Wally gave no response, and Burris elected to check his outfit to distract himself. A relatively form fitting red shirt, black gym shorts… damn, his skin had gotten _really_ tan these last couple of days. Well, it’d work anyway. 

He looked up again, Wally running his hands through his reformed green hair, sticking upright like usual. “There! It feels weird after showering,” he admitted, chuckling. 

“It looks longer than my mom’s without the spikes.”

Wally puffed his cheeks out for a moment, then sighed. “Well I can’t exactly judge that, I’ve never met your mother.”

Burris shrugged. “Fair point.” He hopped out of bed, his feet slapping against the tile floor. “Anyway, you ready? I’ve been training all day, I don’t think I ate lunch…”

“You’re not going to clean up?” Wally asked, crossing his arms.

“It’s a sports bar, Wally,” Burris said, eyes narrowed for a moment. “You don’t need to dress nice everywhere…” He paused then chuckled. “I mean, I didn’t bring nice clothes with me anyway, so.”

“I will never understand you,” Wally said. They didn’t meet a single soul in the hallway. Burris guessed they were either in for the night or out already for supper. 

“So you said you fought Roxanne today, right?” Burris asked, the cool night air rushing over his face as the doors slid open. Arceus, it felt nice. Hoenn was humid a lot this time of year, but the summer nights after a cold front pushed through were perfect.

“Yeah, but it was my second badge, remember?” Wally said, an idle streetlight highlighting his features for a moment. “She had a Geodude, an Onix, and a Nosepass, but she probably won’t have all of that for you.”

“An ONIX!?” Burris jumped backwards, jostling the spikes in his hair.

“It’s not that tough,” Wally said, eyebrow raised. _I guess I would’ve expected a Juniper to know more about pokemon…_ “My Marrill had no issue taking it down, I had more trouble with the Nosepass.”

“Oh, that’s the weird rock type, right?” Burris said. Dad mentioned it once or twice; it seemed like it gave him the creeps. “Yeah, I’ve heard about it a bit.”

“It’s a pure Rock type, and there’s not a lot of pokemon that can really take it on well this early,” Wally explained, rubbing the back of his head. “Or… so I’ve read on the forums, anyway.”

“Forums?”

Wally grinned. “Yeah. When I didn’t think I could go on a journey, I spent a lot of time on the internet reading about others’ adventures.”

“Huh,” Burris said. He interlocked his hands on the back of his head. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’m sure there’s no shortage of interesting stories out there…” He raised an eyebrow. “Of course, half of those might not be true, but.” Burris stopped in front of a plain rectangular building, clad in dull stone. TVs could be seen running inside above the booths, and a bar in the middle of it all as well. “Coming?”

Wally turned back around. “Oh!” He scampered up to Burris side as he held open the door. He glanced through one of the windows, then frowned. “A bar…”

“Oh right, we’re 18 now,” Burris said. He rubbed his chin. “Which means we can legally drink.” Whoever thought it was a good idea to have the legal drinking age be the same as the Pokemon League age should be smacked. But rules were rules. And rules were meant to be followed. Or something.

Wally clasped his hands behind his back, swiveling one ankle. “I’ll… pass on drinks, thanks,” he murmured, looking away.

“It’s not for everyone,” Burris said, smiling warmly. “Besides, I won’t have more than a couple. I have a gym battle and all tomorrow.”

“Have you drank before?” Wally asked. He passed through the open door.

“My mom can read my mind, I was in no way shape or form risking underage drinking,” Burris explained with a laugh. “Mom claimed to try not to read our minds all the time, but… So no.” 

“… She’s psychic?” Wally said in a hushed awe.

The restaurant was quiet, a couple of waitresses could be seen chatting at the square ebony bar in the middle. Reruns of major pokemon matches could be seen; Burris eyes went to a screen that showed a Haxorus versus a Magnezone, the footage slightly grainy. 

Still clear enough to see the axe-headed dragon cloak itself in raging purplish energy, then slam into a younger Shockwave. though.

“Oh! They’re showing my mom’s old champion match!” Burris exclaimed, sliding into a booth just in front of the match.

“Y-your mom was a champion too?” Wally blurted out across from Burris. His head craned back to look just in time to see Shockwave take another particularly vicious Outrage from the mighty Unovan dragon. 

“A couple of decades ago, but yeah!” Burris explained, eyes glued to the TV. He had never seen his mom fight before, and had to prevent himself from cheering as he saw Liliana order a Flash Cannon, the burst of light striking the Haxorus head on and exploding brilliantly. Iris’ mighty dragon dropped to the ground with the announcers shouting and Liliana, young and beautiful jumping for joy with her brutalized but victorious Magnezone and-

“Can I take your order?” The waitress barely stifled a giggle at the sight of Burris standing up, fist in the air and clearly having been cheering a moment ago.

Burris’ face flared red as he sat back down. Wally snorted, which earned the boy a side eye..

“I’ll have water, please,” Wally said with a nod. 

Burris skimmed the plain yellow pages, hoping for some drink to pop out at him… the Hurricane, some drink made with Dewford fruits and vodka… sure! “I’ll have a Hurricane and a water, thanks.” Burris grabbed for his PokeNav, his trainer card on screen as the waitress grabbed it.

“Oh, you’re in town to challenge Roxanne, I assume?” she said, handing the device back.

“Yeah, taking her on tomorrow morning and then heading out to Dewford,” Burris explained.

The waitress smiled. “Cool, just don’t drink too much. I don’t think battling hungover is any fun.” Her hard soled shoes clacked against the deep brown floor as she moved away.

“Finally,” Burris murmured. At least she came right before a commercial break.

Wally frowned, but turned back to the TV as Liliana reappeared in front of it. Young, she still wore her white and red top with a pink Poke Ball on her chest, a similarly designed visor sitting on her hair. Burris noted it was styled like her current hair, though more vibrant.

Shockwave hovered by her side, a large axe-like gash on his face. “Even the sturdiest steel types don’t get out of Iris’ dragons unscathed, but Shockwave here managed to take down the Haxorus _and_ Druddigon!” the reporter exclaimed. “How did it feel knowing you were down 2-1 in pokemon, knowing your last Pokemon was already weak?”

“It was stressful, to say the least,” Liliana said, grinning widely. Suddenly, she leaped up, trapping Shockwave in a hug. “But I knew if anyone could come through, it’d be Shockwave!” 

The Magnezone shut his main eye and whirled its magnets and bolts. He beeped approvingly. Burris noted the burns on Shockwave’s face.

“It’s crazy seeing Shockwave like that,” Burris said, grabbing Wally’s attention. “Nowadays he usually just makes sure Sienna and I aren’t screwing off.”

“I mean, if I had kids and Pokemon I’d probably choose him for that too,” Wally suggested. The waitress came back and set down both drinks, pausing the conversation. Wally ordered a plain burger with fries; Burris ordered a burger with fried onions, bacon, and barbeque sauce. As the waitress left, Wally shook his head. “He’d also prevent you from trying to drink now…”

Burris cocked an eyebrow as he sipped the red drink, bits of fruit floating around in it. He kept it in his mouth for a moment, eyes betraying his confusion at the taste before he swallowed.

“I mean, I can’t even taste the alcohol in this,” Burris said, shrugging as he set the glass down with a clank. 

Wally sipped water through his black straw, looking at Burris warily. “I-I don’t know much about drinking booze.” He moved just a centimeter off the straw before continuing. “But I still would recommend caution.”

“Meh,” Burris said, shrugging and staring off at a wall. “I mean, one drink, maybe two. What’s the worst that could happen?”

-

Wally wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he felt Burris’ weight against his shoulder as the duo returned to the room. 

“Mmrgh,” Burris mumbled before stumbling forward slightly, eyes half closed.

“B-burris!” Wally exclaimed. He grabbed his friend by his shoulders. Not even two full drinks. _For future reference; don’t let him say I didn’t warn him,_ Wally intoned. He turned Burris upright again. At the least they managed to finish their food before Burris’ words began to slur…

“I’m fiiiiiine,” Burris said, giving Wally a lazy dismissive wave. 

“I’m… just going to guide you to the bathroom,” Wally said. He knew enough about drunk people to be helpful. He hoped. “You just ate a full meal, too…”

“A-and?” Burris said, pausing as Wally opened the door for him. Wally frowned, electing to guide Burris in from behind.

“I’m saying you’re- oh, you probably won’t remember this anyway…” Wally said, slapping his forehead gently. He appreciated the room, and he wouldn’t abandon his friend, but did he have to deal with this?

“I’mmm w- urk!” Burris said, cheeks suddenly puffing out. Wally winced. Burris stuffed his face on top of the toilet bowl. With a stomach wrenching series of sounds Wally wouldn’t wish on any poor soul, well, Burris puked.

“I’m saying you’re probably going to vomit…” Wally said. Ugh. The wretched scent, a combination of partially digested food and booze, filled the bathroom. “J-just stay on there, I’m going to step out for a bit.”

Burris flashed a thumbs up. Wally shut the door with a click, wincing and shutting his eyes as Burris voided his stomach yet again. Wordlessly, he tossed Ginnis’ Poke Ball in front of him, the small alien looking up at Wally with a visible degree of concern.

Wally’s back hit the wall with a thud, the boy sliding down until he felt the cold tile on his bottom. Ginnis waddled up to his master’s side, red eyes staring up at Wally even as the boy scooped him up.

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” Wally said, taking a heavy breath in. He exhaled. The Juniper Foundation meant a lot of things to him. It meant he was healthy, it meant he could go on a journey, and it meant Dad didn’t have to come home drunk from dealing with all of the stress of work and a constantly sick son.

Wally felt Ginnis’ stubby white arm rub under his watering eyes, causing him to laugh a little. “T-thanks Ginnis,” he said quietly. The Ralts nuzzled his trainer’s cheek with the red horn on his head. “T-that tickles.“ Wally and Ginnis both jumped at the sound of Burris retching again. Wally grimaced as he opened the door to the bathroom to-

“BURRIS!” Wally cried out. He whined as his head drooped. “You’re supposed to puke _in_ the toilet…”

-

Burris’ head pounded, his eyes stubborn as he tried to force them open. Eventually he pried them open. And immediately grimaced as the light hit his vision. His throat felt dry, and god the headache… He rubbed his eyes as he sat upright, brain battling against the throbbing as he tried to recall what had happened.

A red bowl with a noxious mix of acid, food, and booze sat beside him. Burris stuck his tongue out and looked away from the dish, sitting on his bed as a rude reminder.

“Ugh, dammit…”

“You’re up,” Wally said quietly. Burris looked around, but a green tuft of hair sitting at the end of his bed betrayed where Wally was. The TV was on some sort of show; seemed like the news, 

“Yeah, I-“ Burris blinked, tossing his blanket off of his bed. His feet slammed down on the floor. “Shit fu- what time is it? I have a gym-“

“- battle later,” Wally said, peering over the end of the bed. Deep black bags sat under his eyes, and he yawned. “I called them last night to postpone.”

Burris relaxed The bed springs squeaked as he plopped down. “Oh. Well. Thank you.”

Wally crossed his arms on top of the frame. He squinted. “I also cleaned up the puke from the bathroom floor.”

Burris blushed, face a deep red. “I… I didn’t think I’d be _that_ much of a lightweight,” he murmured, looking away.

“Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you,” Wally said simply, sighing as Burris rubbed his forehead again. “Are you feeling somewhat ok now?”

“My head wants to kill me but... I’ll live. Maybe.” A nagging thought suddenly began to tug at the back of Burris’ mind. It was something relevant, something he knew was bugging him but he couldn’t guess at what and-

“Well, reading online, water and greasy food supposedly helps,” Wally said, throwing his hands up. “You’d think if your foundation found a cure for my illness that they’d have figured out something for-“

Burris’s eyes widened, groaning out a “nooooo” as his head smashed the pillow. Dammit, that’s what it was. “If this hangover doesn’t kill me we’re going out and buying a gun just to make sure.”

“W-what!? Burris- you-“

“It’s a figure of speech but _my mom is psychic_ ,” Burris yelled.

“… O-oh,” Wally stammered out. “Right.”

“She’s usually the nice one but goddammit I had to delay my stupid gym battle because of that stupid drink and-“ Wally clenched his teeth as Burris pressed the well-used pillow against his face and screamed. It was a nicer sound than the puking, at the least.

“Well, it’s better than battling hungover?” Wally said He shrugged a little. “I mean, gym battles are pretty regulated but it’s not fair to the Pokemon either way.”

Burris tossed his pillow onto the floor, now slightly wet with his saliva. “Yeah. Yeah, fair point.” And he wouldn’t be home for a little while anyway. His mom couldn’t read minds two cities away. He hoped. _Please god, I hope she can’t._ “So uh, thank you for delaying that for me-“

“- security systems?” Burris and Wally turned to the TV. An incredulous brunette reporter looked up from her notepad. “Mr. Stone, pardon me for questioning this but-“

“Look, not everyone has super powerful pokemon to protect themselves, right? Like some just have a Skitty housepet or some crap.” Sure enough, that was Clarence Stone, now standing behind a podium at a press conference. The cameras flashing highlighted the deep blue backdrop, the Devon Corp label plastered all over it. “So having these security systems and drones for homes like that can help those sorta folks out. I’m serious!”

A hush fell over the reporters as they talked amongst themselves. “What, it’s not a dumb idea, you just don’t see half of it!”

“Wow, he’s as weird on TV as he was in person,” Burris muttered. A genuine smile crossed his face, directed at Wally.. “But thanks, honestly. I can’t remember much after we left the bar but…”

“It was kind of terrifying,” Wally said, eyes threatening to close shut. “But you’re welcome.”

Burris frowned and jumped out of his head, his feet thudding against the tile. “Look, you go sleep for a little bit,” he said.

“I’m fine,” Wally protested, another yawn betraying him..

“Well, no you’re not. You go sleep, I’ll figure out just what the hell to do with this hangover and…” Burris rubbed his chin. “What time is my gym battle, again?”

“I set it for four.”

“Sure. Won’t be able to leave Rustboro today, but…” Burris said. He watched as Wally slipped into bed, grabbing the pillow he tossed on the floor. “Well, you could if you don’t sleep too-“ And like that, Wally’s light snoring filled the room.

“Really tired,” Burris murmured. Well, whatever. Wally deserved the sleep, Burris was pretty damn certain of that. He winced as his head throbbed violently. “Dammit. First I’ll figure out this stupid hangover, then…”

He murmured out a plan of attack for the day as he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him with a click.


	8. Rocky Road

Burris’ fork clanked against the dirty ceramic plate, picking up the last few pieces of greasy potatoes and popping them into his mouth. Ketchup, grease, and food remnants caked the dish. Burris swallowed, then leaned back in his cushioned seat and let out a satisfied sigh.

After leaving the PokeCenter, Burris stopped by the nearest breakfast place and immediately ordered what looked like their biggest, greasiest meal. He wasn’t entirely sure how much it helped, but between that and the five glasses of water his head throbbed less.

Though he had to take more than a couple of trips to the bathroom. “Too much water,” Burris grumbled to no one in particular. He glanced at the receipt on the table. 1000 poke wasn’t bad for all of this food. He leaned back into his chair and rubbed his eyes. 

Well, he didn’t feel like death now, which was nice. He still had about an hour and a half until the gym fight. Thank god for Wally, he thought. _I would’ve been so screwed without him,_ he intoned. He had heard the saying “no good deed goes unpunished”, but if anything Wally bailed him out of making a terrible, terrible decision.

Or, well, he imagined battling hungover was a horrible idea. Or being stupid drunk. “It wasn’t even two drinks,” Burris murmured. His head hit the back of his seat. Finding out you were a total lightweight the day before a gym battle wasn’t great. Burris tapped his fingers on the table. Still, he didn’t feel totally dead. Burris’ mind drifted to what he was going to do against Roxanne.

“Robby and Terri would be wisest.” Burris leaned his head on his hand. He’d probably only have to fight two pokemon… Otherwise Madison knew Ice Fang too, and he knew a lot of rock types were weak to ice thanks to having the ground type.

Well, if Roxanne only used two pokemon, Burris probably wouldn’t be able to use Madison, either. Which was completely fine. He eyed a couple of businessmen leaving the diner, discussing something or another related to Devon. Related to machines or whatever, Burris barely caught half of it.

“Well, time to get going,” Burris said. He stood upright and turned to leave the old diner. The cracked green tile and hideous neon yellow paint peeling betrayed its age, but it was the only place Burris could find that served breakfast now. And everyone knew breakfast foods were the greasiest. 

-

After wandering around for an hour, Burris showed up at the gym. Peering in through the clear doors, he could see a few trainers milling about just beyond a small museum display. A few doors on the sides led to other rooms; if Dad was correct about Roxanne, they were probably classrooms.

The doors slid open and Burris walked in. A particularly cheery receptionist, blonde and wearing a light blue dress, sat behind a computer screen.

“Are you here for an appointment?” she asked, smiling widely. 

“Yeah, gym battle.” Burris nodded, placing his PokeNav down on the clear counter. His trainer card flashed to life on the screen. 

The lady observed the card for a moment, mouthed a dramatic “ooooooh”, then turned to her computer. She pressed a few keys, then turned up and smiled at Burris.

“There, all set.” She giggled, causing Burris to raise an eyebrow. Did he have something on his face or- “You know, Roxanne’s extremely excited to fight another Juniper. She idolizes your…” The receptionist hummed, placing a finger on her lips. “I think it’s your great grandmother?”

“Yeah, Aurea,” Burris said, waving as he walked place. “Glad to know I’ll be fangirled over, thanks.” He rolled his eyes. Wonderful. The last thing he was in the mood for was someone freaking out over his last name. He sighed as his focus shifted to the large fossil on the opposite wall. Ok, kind of cool. “That looks like an ancient Dragonite,” he muttered. Were they all that big?

He spied Roxanne talking with a couple of younger kids on the gym floor. A basic design, tan rock with a white outline designating the legal areas. Not much different than Dad’s at its core. A few metal bleachers sat on each side, and a few kids were pouring over textbooks on them.

Well, Burris supposed they could learn a lot from seeing Roxanne fight. Probably not him, though. Unless it was something like “hey, don’t drink for the first time before your first gym-”

“Oh!” Roxanne caught Burris walking up the stairs, her Kalosian accent thick as Hoenn’s swamps. She clasped her hands together and giggled. “I’m sorry, this is embarrassing but- you’re the other Juniper kid, yes?”

Burris ignored the question for a couple of more steps. “Yep. I am.”

“Awesome!” Roxanne pumped her fist into the air. The kids beside her exchanged confused glances. Roxanne placed a hand in front of her smile and giggled. “Apologies, I’m not normally this energetic, I just- your great grandmother means a lot to people like me.”

“I’ve heard,” Burris said. He shoved his hands into his pockets. The instruction manual said nothing about the gym fight involving fangirling over his last name. 

“She- she really paved the way for scientists and teachers like me, you know? Having such a wonderful woman being a world class researcher…” Roxanne trailed off, eyes fluttering. A happy sigh preceded her continuing. “She was really the first of her kind, honestly, and while there were others back in her day, her star shone the brightest and…” Roxanne interlocked her hands and rubbed her cheek on them. “I’m sorry I’m not like normally this. Um. Chatty. It’s just that she means SO MUCH to me and fighting not one, but two of her great grandchildren is just-!”

Her fingers bent over her palms, she covered her mouth and squealed. 

Burris barely contained an annoyed moan. 

“Yeah, I’ve heard she means a lot to people,” he said in as neutral of a tone as possible. It seemed ill advised to piss off a Gym Leader right before battling them. “I guess it’s… kind of weird to me, though. She’s just been… well.” Burris shrugged. “She’s just been my great grandma, yanno?”

A lone finger tapped Roxanne’s mouth as she hummed. “Mmmmm yes. Sienna said the same thing. She’s quite talented herself; she could probably be a researcher someday if she put her mind to it.”

“Well she’s gunning for Wallace’s champion seat right now,” Burris said, rubbing the back of his head. “Probably going to pull it off too, knowing her.”

Roxanne’s hands smacked down on her hips. “Mhmm! I’m looking forward to seeing her on bigger stages.”

It’d be cool to have a champion for a sister, Burris would admit. Fitting, if nothing else. His family was filled with champions, researchers, gym leaders… why wouldn’t she be one? _’Course, not like I’ll do any of that,_ he intoned. It was a fun journey to be sure, but reaching those heights seemed implausible.

“Yeah, should be cool,” Burris said. Roxanne motioned for the two kids to go to the stands. 

“That all said, I believe I am more interested in seeing what _you_ can do right now.” Her shoes clicked against the stone floor as she walked to the other side of the arena.

“Me?” Burris said.

“You are here for the gym battle, yes?” Roxanne remarked, arms crossed and Poke Ball at the ready in her right hand. 

“Uh, yeah. But it’s just a first gym battle, I mean-“

“- it means it’s the first true step of your journey,” Roxanne interjected, pointing to the ceiling, then to Burris. “And while your family is truly legendary, I want to see what _you_ can do, Burris.”

Burris blinked. “Um, I dunno. I’m just the… normal one, honestly.” He stopped his steps at the opposite trainer’s box. 

Roxanne giggled slightly. “Oh? Do you not think your mom and grandmother weren’t in your shoes, once upon a time?”

Burris blankly stared. 

“Your father’s told me some stories.”

“No embarrassing ones about me though, right?” Burris raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“My lips are sealed on that front,” Roxanne said, moving an imaginary zipper across her curled lips. 

Burris frowned. 

“That said…” With one smooth flick of her wrist, she flung a red and white device towards the ground. In a flash of light, a boulder with two arms floated in the air, staring at Burris. “We have more important matters to take care of, no? Two pokemon each, standard league rules.”

Right, the battle. Burris had nearly forgotten about it In a throw and a flash of light, Robby plopped down on Burris’ side of the field, black eyes regarding the boulder with curiosity. 

“Robby, Water Gun!” No need to do anything stupid on a Geodude, Burris thought. A jet of water burst out from the otter’s mouth, droplets staining the tan floor. 

The Geodude stared. “Rocky, Rock Tomb.” The Geodude’s fist cracked the ground, and a triangle of stone spiked out of the ground. The water dispersed, leaving a puddle by the rocks as they receded underground. 

Burris clicked his tongue. Maybe he needed something fancier. “Robby, get in closer!” The Oshawott brandished his scallop, and sprinted forward.

“Obstruct him.” Rocky grunted at his trainer’s order. Hands digging into the ground, the gym floor fractured. The snap barely had time to finish echoing as the boulder smashed into the ground, shattering right in front of Robby and obstructing both trainers’ view of the starter.

Until he leaped up into the air anyway. One stone in particular cracked the gym floor as it hit beneath the Oshawott, propelling him upwards for a few beautiful moments. His black eyes glinted as he descended, hands at his side and feet straightened as he rocketed towards the Geodude.

“Robby, Razor Shell!” Burris yelled out. 

Roxanne grimaced.

“Rock Tomb again!” The Oshawott jetted towards Rocky, the strong triangle jutting out from the ground in an attempt to protect the Geodude, but Robby felt the cold stone on the sides of his fur as he slipped through. The students in the stands gasped.

With a cry, his shell struck true. Water and scallop worked in unison to leave a diagonal scar on Rocky’s face. With a resounding smash, Rocky came down to earth. Roxanne sighed as the Geodude vanished in red light.

“Well done,” Roxanne said. She held an Ultra Ball in her right hand, and crossed her arms. “You’re quite adept for a first time trainer, I hope you know that.”

“You’re just saying that,” Burris said, waving her off. Robby waddled up to Burris side, distracting his trainer with the prospects of a high five. Burris dropped his hand down, and felt a wet paw clap against it. “Good job, Robby.” He tapped Robby’s capsule on his head, the Oshawott vanishing.

“Am I? I’d like to think I’m a good assessor of talent,” Roxanne said, shrugging and flinging her Ultra Ball. A Nosepass formed on the other side of the field. Eyes shut, her red nose pointed prominently towards Burris. The Nosepass’s smooth skin contrasted sharply with the Geodude’s rugged mountain-like exterior.

“And I’d like to point out my Dad’s also a gym leader,” Burris said, flinging out Terri’s white and red Premier Ball. The Lombre croaked. She observed the Nosepass, rubbing under her chin with her left arm.

Then she waved. The Nosepass raised her left stub and did her best to reciprocate. 

“Do you honestly think Eli of all people is going to get mad if I say his child is a bad trainer?” Roxanne tched at response. “If anything, he’d probably be madder if I misled you… Sapphire, Block!”

A red X dropped down on top of Terri, and vanished as quickly as it came. Terri blinked and examined her claws.

“What… was that?” Burris asked. Wait, Block-? “Oh wait, goddammit!”

Roxanne smirked and held a pointer finger up. “We are still fighting, after all.”

Burris groaned. He couldn’t swap in Robby again if Terri was in trouble. Dammit. “Fine! We have a trick of our own! Terri, Teeter Dance!”

“Teeter what?” Terri’s droning echoed off of the stone walls. The Lombre spun in place, hands held above her head like she was a pirouette. The Nosepass let out a confused grunt and held her fingerless hands over her nonexistent ears.

“Sapphire, your target’s still to the north! Rock Tomb!” Terri croaked when the ground rumbled around her slightly, the bipedal frog springing out of the way moments before sharp rocks erupted from the ground. 

“But- argh!” Burris snapped his fingers. He remembered dad saying this, Nosepass movements worked off of magnetism… “Forget the dance, it’s useless here. Bubble!”

“See? You know a lot more than your normal trainer,” Roxanne said. The bubbles popped against Sapphire’s skin, dampening parts of it. The Nosepass rocked back and forth. “Rock Tomb, below you!” 

The ground quaked, and rocks smashed into Sapphire’s feet with resounding force. Flying through the air, the Nosepass missile rocketed towards a surprised Terri.

Burris winced and Terri squawked, tumbling backwards like a ragdoll. 

“But I’m not _that_ inexperienced myself,” Roxanne said. Sapphire floated for the briefest of seconds using magnetism and stood upright once more. 

Terri grabbed at the bruise on her chest, staring down the Nosepass only feet away. 

“D-damn, that was… something. Absorb!” Terri lashed out, her clawed hands gripping the almost glassy stone. The arms acted as a conduit for green energy, flowing from rock to frog. The Nosepass screeched, like granite rubbing on rough stone, before spinning around in place. 

Burris watched as Terri flew back, sliding backwards on her two feet. Small claw marks were etched into the floor between the combatants. 

“Bubble again, then close in!” A spray of bubbles lashed out at Sapphire. The Lombre took off running

“Rock Tomb!” The stones formed as a barrier once more, water splashing against it. Terri could see just enough of an opening, eyeing the left side of Roxanne’s ace.

“Fake Out, then Absorb!” Burris felt his head pound for a moment, a grimace-worthy reminder of his mistake from last night. “Goddammit,” he murmured, fingers rubbing his temples. Terri planted her hands on the ground, before launching herself like a spring towards Sapphire. The claws on her feet dug into the sides of the Nosepass’s head. She waved her arms frantically, flailing to no avail.

Terri’s hands squeezed tight against the stone type’s flat head, vitality transferring from her victim to her. The Nosepass’s moves slowed, the arms dropping down to her sides. And then her nose smashed into the tan granite of the gym floor. Terri hopped off, her bruised feet kicking up dust while Sapphire rolled onto her side.

Roxanne shut her eyes and smiled. “Sapphire, you did well.” With that, the Nosepass vanished. Burris grinned slightly, walking up to Terri.

“You did awesome, Terri,” he said, feeling a small wellspring of pride bubble up inside of him. Ok, maybe Roxanne had a point. Maybe. He pat Terri’s lily pad, damp against his fingers. Then, with a tap of her Poke Ball, Terri was returned.

And hell, he did win a gym match while still sort of hungover. Sort of. There was no way on earth he was doing this without Wally delaying the match. Or without the breakfast and water. _Wally definitely bailed me out here._

“You did a superb job.” Roxanne’s voice snapped Burris out of his thoughts. She held out a metal badge, brownish with two arrows pointing out from the center. An inconspicuous slip of paper was attached to the back.

“Oh, thanks.” And like that, Roxanne walked off. The kids in the stands looked up expectantly at her, books filled with various scribbles and notes from the fight.

“I’d stay and talk but I use these to help teach my kids,” Roxanne said, waving and smiling. Before long, her back was to Burris, the sounds of her conversations with the students reverberating over the empty floor. 

Burris flipped over his badge. A note stared back at him. “Call me <3…” and a phone number… but mostly the heart. Burris mouthed “the fuck?”. He looked up at Roxanne, eyes begging for her to come and let him explain this but… no dice.

“Dammit,” Burris cursed, shoving the badge in his pocket. He gritted his teeth as his mind searched for some not awkward way to tell her that he was about as straight as a roller coaster. He stopped and gripped his head for a moment, head aching “Fuck off!” he hissed. Damn hangover. At least Sienna was right on Roxanne; she wasn’t too tough.

Grumbling, he half waved at the receptionist as she wished him a nice day, then walked out into the sun once more.


	9. The Not Knowing

The remainder of the day came and went. Wally slept for most of it, but Burris nudged him awake for some food and gear shopping. The two went to bed early, with Wally taking the bed this time; they decided to leave for Dewford in the early morning.

They also decided it was a bad idea to have anything close to a repeat of the night before.

The walk south on Route 104 was quiet, the sun barely peaking over the sky. Dew stuck to the grass, and an eerie fog rolled off the lake. Hopefully Petalburg Woods wasn’t foggy. Hopefully.

Wally gnawed on an energy bar while walking alongside Burris, the two appreciating the early morning silence. Burris mind was focused on Dewford. Not exactly the most populated place in Hoenn, but being on an isolated island could be fun.

 _Even if I’d prefer Mauville._ Still, Rusturf Tunnel was a few days away from being passable and taking the sea routes meant that he could see Slateport along the way too. 

Wally also mentioned that Dewford was the stormiest part of Hoenn, too. Burris wasn’t sure what to think of that. It meant they could be stuck on an island for a few days. Burris flipped up three fingers, then four on his other hand in slow progression. He clicked his tongue. Depending on the storm, he might’ve been better off just staying in Rustboro.

Burris scanned Wally’s outfit, a pair of black gym shorts with a green form fitting top that showed how skinny he was. He’d be more comfortable hiking that way, at the least. And he was- 

“You ok?” Wally asked. They were near the foreboding forest now, the outer ring of trees opening up to invite them in. The sun’s rays had dispersed the dew and fog. 

“Just thinking,” Burris said, rolling his shoulders. What would he even _do_ if they ended up trapped in Dewford? Dewford had four things; fishing, boating, Granite Cave, and the gym. “What’s the forecast for Dewford?”

Wally peered down at his PokeNav, typing away in it. “Um… chance of storms?”

“Well, better than some hurricane.” The trees engulfed the sun and protected the dew within the forest. A low fog still choked out the forest floor.

Wally shrugged. “I mean, from what I read, that can turn into a hurricane at any moment.”

“Let me guess; forum stories?” Burris asked, eagerly clinging to the distraction from their surroundings.

“Yeah. A lot of stories of people being stuck there for days.” Wally paused his steps just by a ledge, a steep incline leading to a slightly lower part of the woods. And another down below. And another. Wally swore he caught a glimpse of the exit. He considered it thoughtfully. “… You think we could take those ledges down?”

Burris peered backwards. A path nearly straight to the other side of the forest opening up below them. Huh. “I must’ve missed these on the way through,” he said.

“Well, it’s not like we can climb up them,” Wally pointed out. He lowered himself onto the muddy side, hands and feet working in unison to climb down. After a few moments, Wally stood up on the forest floor again. His hands and shoes were almost caked in mud. “I think we can make this work!”

“Good, because screw this place!”

-

Hours passed and by the time Burris and Wally stepped out onto a normal pathway again the noon sun hung lazily in the sky. Briney’s house could easily be seen from here, and Burris exhaled at the sight of the old man’s pristine white boat. 

“Did you know Briney used to be a naval commander?” Wally piped up. “In Kanto, I mean.”

“Kanto?” Burris asked, then nodded. “Oh, makes sense. The war.”

“Yeah. Captain Thorson Briney worked with Lieutenant Nathaniel Surge to help bring peace to Kanto,” Wally recited from some history textbook or another. Everyone knew that they left out the controversial bits in those. Though Burris remembered Grandma Aile talking about it once upon a time; supposedly a lot of the stuff that happened there was still classified. Over six goddamn decades later.

“Yep. Everyone read about it in our textbooks,” Burris said. God, younger him wished he could pry the classified stuff from grandma’s head. The reactions from the other kids in his class would’ve been hilarious. They had all moved onto college or started their journey or their family farms or whatever, and Burris’ curiosity for forbidden details had died long ago. A buzz from Burris’ PokeNav interrupted his daydreaming; a message from dad…

<12:45 pm> By the way, I forgot to mention this to you, but your aunt’s in the region.

Burris looked up from his screen, eyes straining upwards. Which one? Dad’s sister was taking care of the Floccessy Ranch back in Unova, but-

“Oh goddammit,” Burris muttered. His fingers spat out a response

<12:46 pm> oh god, zinnia?

“Something wrong?” Wally asked.

“Nothing.” No, it was everything. 

<12:46 pm> Yes, Aunt Zinnia.

Burris mockingly mouthed an “Aunt Zinnia” before replying.

<12:47 pm> she is not my goddamn aunt shes 16  
<12:47 pm> how tf did grandpa n let her out of the house

Burris looked up to see Wally raise an eyebrow at him.

“Nothing but furious typing,” he said.

<12:48 pm> Unova has more lax laws than Hoenn does when it comes to trainers. And yes, she is technically your aunt.  
<12:48 pm> And while I can hear you typing “I will never call her that ever” at least try to get along with her if you see her?

Burris snorted.

<12:49 pm> fine. 

He slipped his PokeNav back with the lint in his right pocket. Right, that reminded him. He still had Roxanne’s number. And still had to explain to her that he was gay. And that he had been up for almost seven hours already and-

“Wow, big yawn,” Wally said, smiling as Burris rubbed his eyes with his fingerprints.

“How the hell are you not tired?”

“I have my ways.” 

Burris mumbled something about wanting Wally’s secrets but instead focused on more pressing matters. Like hanging a right to go towards Briney’s house. The two stood in front of the door for a second before Wally rapped his knuckles on it. The door creaked a little in protest.

A bald man, wrinkles and a bushy white moustache betraying his age, opened the door. He wore what appeared to be a navy blue dress shirt, a silver anchor emblem above the right dress pocket. Fierce green eyes stared above his glasses.

“Excuse me, Mr. Briney, but we’re here for a ride to Dewford,” Wally explained. The sunlight glinted off of his two badges as he showed him to the sailor. Burris showed his lone one, abandoned without a case. 

He had one, he just didn’t think about it until now. Oops. 

“So you are,” Briney said. He whistled inside, and moments later a Wingull perched on his shoulder. “Fortunate timing too, a lovely young lady saved Peeko here a day or so ago… Sienna, her name was?”

“Oh. Cool,” Burris said, then jabbed a thumb towards the boat. Sienna; champion to be, hero in the making. Like every other Juniper, it seemed. “Are we ready to go, then?”

Briney chuckled. “Eager. Give me a few moments to make sure she’s ready…”

-

The salt-tanged winds lashed at Burris’ face as he stared out at wide blue ocean. Route 104 quickly became a dot in the distance, Briney’s house nothing but a speck of dust. Madison and Jonesy sat by his side behind the low glass wall. The wall shuddered as a Magikarp’s face slammed into it. Madison bumped her nose into it as she tried to chomp on it.

“Really?” Burris asked. Madison shook her head and blinked, backing away from the nose-shaped smudge. Jonesy checked Madison’s nose with one eye, an ear flopped over the other. Burris glanced through a window into the cockpit. Wally chatted away with Briney about something or another. Wally grimaced as Thorson looked away from him after an unheard question.

Knowing Wally… “He probably doesn’t want to talk about Kanto, dude,” Burris murmured then yawned. His feet squeaked against the damp boards while he walked to the back. Madison and Jonesy ran past him, barking and chirping at each other past the cabin of the ship. The back end of the ship held a hammock tied between two posts with life vests hanging off of rusted nails. 

Burris rubbed his eyes. He wrestled with the white strings before emerging victorious. His hands supported his head eyes observing the clean white ceiling. “No mold? Briney must take really good care of this thing…” Burris murmured. An annoyed look flashed across his face. “Suppose I should text Roxanne before I sleep.”

The snarls grew louder as Burris pushed the PokeNav’s touch screen quickly

<2:36 pm> hi its burris  
<2:36 pm> so uh. no good way to break this. but im-

The barking hit a fever pitch. Burris scowled and looked over. Madison had Jonesy pinned, the Eevee crying at his ear being pulled.

“Hey! Knock it off!” Burris snapped. Madison sat upright and looked at Burris, pink tongue sticking out of her black snout. “I saw what you were doing, don’t hurt Jonesy or I’m going to return you.”

The Poochyena barked and waggled her butt, attempting to say she was innocent, honest! Burris rolled his eyes and returned to his PokeNav. 

-gay.

He rested his PokeNav on his chest and felt his eyelids droop.

-

Buzz Buzz Buzz. Buzz.

Burris grunted. _What the hell..._ He felt the weight of Madison and Jonesy on both sides, the trio making for a very fluffy pokemon and human sandwich. Blue eyes glanced at the PokeNav, flashing to life with a number Burris didn’t recognize, but there were four new messages and-

“Oh, right.” Burris grabbed the device. He noticed a couple of scuff marks on the yellow paint; it was a model from a couple of years ago, his dad’s old one. 

Replaced by newer versions that solved problems no one had.

<5:31 pm> OH MY GOD  
<5:31 pm> OH MY GOD  
<5:32 pm> I’M SO SORRY I’M SO SORRY  
<5:33 pm> I had legitimately no idea I swear to all that is holy I wasn’t trying to be a jerk you’re just cute and aaaaaa

“Well, there it is,” Burris said. He felt kinda bad but what the hell else was he supposed to say? “You could’ve said _nothing_ , you dope.”

<5:33 pm> look not everyones gaydar is perfect  
<5:33 pm> so chill its fine

Burris felt the little bundle of fluff on his right stir, and a Eevee with both ears flopped over his face stood up and, well he _tried_ to stare, but. Burris smiled as he gently moved the ears back into their normal upright positions, revealing drowsy brown eyes.

“You two fell asleep too?” Jonesy let out a little Eevee yawn, small enough that Burris questioned if he could fit a thumb inside. Madison raised her head up fangs and tongue sticking out. “Guess so…”

Another buzz.

<5:35 pm> Yes, well. You remember the whole “your dad is technically my coworker” thing, yes?

Right, that. Burris hummed and tapped his chin.

<5:36 pm> itll be our little secret  
<5:36 pm> fair warning i reserve the right to give you shit over this

It’s not like he was offended or anything. Plus he didn’t mind being thought of as attractive. It had been a couple of years since he dated. Though those ended poorly less because of attractiveness, more because of-

<5:37 pm> Fair enough. As long as it’s not in front of your dad because that would be MORTIFYING and you might as well end my existence then and there if it happens.

Burris smirked. 

<5:37 pm> nah. im well practiced in the dark arts of knowing how to hide shit from my dad

By that he meant; hide things for a few weeks or even months, then watch as it blow up in his face. Oh well, a D in history never killed anyone. Well, except (almost) him.

<5:38 pm> I’ll hold you to that, then. 

Burris grunted as the sunlight started to creep onto his face. It now hung low in the Hoenn summer sky, a little over halfway down towards the horizon. A few fluffy clouds dotted the skies. 

“Mrgh fine, dammit, I’m moving.” If he slept anymore he’d be up all night. With a poke the two furballs jumped out of the hammock. Throwing his legs off, Burris stretched his arms over his head. Left arm grabbed his right elbow while he groaned. 

Well if nothing else he could check up on Wally and Briney.

In a few seconds, Burris swung open the door to the cabin with a series of creaks. A pair of couches, red cushions on white plastic, sat on the sides of the first half of the room. A matching plastic table sat in the middle of it, currently hosting a napping Skitty. Behind the living room esque space was a small kitchen area, complete with a miniature stove and fridge. It had everything and the kitchen sink!

“How in the hell… Wally, how the hell does he have a sink here?” Burris asked. Wally looked up, Ralts and Marril plopped down in his lap. A soft purple aura caused the blue orb on the end of Marril’s tail to float back and forth.

“Uh…” He stared for a moment. “O-oh, right! It filters out the salt water from the oceans.”

“Huh,” Burris said. He crossed his arms and tilted his head. “League money is really damn good, it seems.”

“Um,” Wally said. He twiddled his thumbs.

Burris ran his hand through his wet sea salted hair. “Ah, dammit, I didn’t realize my spikes got washed out…” Must’ve happened while he was sleeping. “… can’t say I like my hair this long.”

“I hope you like being really, really tan at the least,” Wally spoke up. 

Burris looked down at his arm. Yep. Definitely a few shades darker than a few hours ago. “Well, I’m pretty much immune to sunburns, if nothing else.”

“Lucky you, I can’t be outside for more than an hour or two without needing sunscreen.” 

“Well at least we’re going to a place that’s cloudy half the time,” Burris said. He plopped down onto the couch, arms stretched across the back of it.

Wally shook his head. “Yeah that… only helps a bit.”

“Damn,” Burris said. He lurched forward a bit as Jonesy sprung into his lap. His silver bell on his collar jingled a bit while he curled up again. 

“Aw,” Wally replied, smiling warmly at the sight. Madison approached Wally slowly, yellow eyes fixated on Ginnis. Red eyes stared down from Wally’s lap, and in an instant the Ralts reappeared on the ground in front of Madison. “Oh!”

The Marril bounced off of Wally as he got up. “Sorry Matt, I just got an idea…” He rummaged through his bag for a few seconds before procuring a pink and white pastry, mostly spherical. Wally kneel down by Burris’ feet, looking up with his wide blue eyes “Do you mind me…?”

Not like Burris was going to say no to that look. “Not at all.” 

Wally whistled softly, and Jonesy stirred. “Do you want a treat?” The Eevee considered the offer for a few moments. Seconds later, the Eevee chewed on his bite of pastry. And then his big brown eyes suddenly got bigger.

Within seconds a frenzy of bites consumed the basic pastry, leaving Eevee spittle and crumbs in its wake.

“Well,” Burris said. He smirked at Wally grabbing a towel to wipe off the mess. “I think he likes it.”

“I have more in my bag, too,” Wally said. Jonesy chirped and sat upright. His left ear flopped over his face.

“You don’t want to be the fattest Eevee in existence, do you?” Burris questioned. Jonesy pouted for a moment and curled up again. “You’ll get more later, prom-“

Something crashing into cheap plastic hit the group’s ears moments before Ginnis popped into existence on top of Wally’s head. Madison barked and pawed at her nose.

“You keep doing that and you’re going to have a nose as flat as a floorboard,” Burris said. Soft Ralts giggles hit his ears and he turned just in time to see Wally glowering up.

“Ginnis, no taunting Madison,” he reprimanded. Ginnis shrugged and stuck with his vantage point while Wally moved back to the other couch. Matt squeaked and took his rightful place back on Wally’s lap. His fingers went through Matt’s slick fur during a moment of silence. “Oh, so I talked with Briney while you were out of it.”

“Oh right,” Burris said. He kept as neutral of a face as he could, though he already had a guess as to what Wally tripped over. “I’m sure that was interesting.”

“Well.” The blue of Wally’s eyes moved upward. “He got a little standoffish when I asked about what happened in Kanto-“

“- see, this is why I didn’t try in history, people who experience it just get mad about it.“

Wally placed his hands on his hips at the sight of Burris’ stupid grin. “I’m sure your dad loved that excuse.” 

“Not in the slightest.”

“Anyway.” Wally coughed, then scratched his head. “… I honestly lost track of what I was going to say.”

Burris’ mind went back to the topic of Briney while Wally desperately searched for what he had just forgotten. And yeah, he was kidding with that being the reason behind not taking history classes seriously, but some things were better left buried. 

His thoughts veered towards his own family for a moment. 

“You know, I know you’re curious about Briney,” Burris spoke up again. His hands supported his his head, the weight of Jonesy on his gut now as he laid down. “But… everyone knows that Kanto war was awful. Even the history books skimp on a lot of the details, everyone knows that.”

“Yeah.” Wally rubbed the back of his head and sucked in his lips. “I shouldn’t have asked him.”

“I mean, imagine how young he probably was. That happened what, 70 years ago now?” Burris said. He looked towards Wally, an uncertain frown betraying his feelings on the matter. “I- you know my family has been involved in a lot of… stuff, right?”

“Well, yes, that’s kind of obvious isn’t-“

“You’re not thinking about all of it.” Burris waved Wally off, then gazed at the vanilla cream colored ceiling. “I’ve known for years, almost as long as I can remember, that a lot of my grandma and my mom and my dad’s old adventures are still classified information.” Sure, you could find their league records and such, but there was more to a journey than just badges. Especially ones that are still partially classified. And ones he knew involved saving the world and fighting against Pokemon of near unfathomable power.

He exhaled before continuing. “I asked Grandma Aile once when I was younger about all of that, and yeah, back then I was pretty curious about all of it.” Burris looked back to Wally, now slightly confused. “I mean, think about it! You’re eight and you hear your family has been involved in some classified information because of some offhand comment. That sounds cool, right?” 

“… It kinda does, yeah,” Wally admitted sheepishly. Ginnis had taken to lying belly down. Curious red eyes peered down at Burris. 

“Well, it’s not,” Burris said. He scoffed. “I mean shit, I don’t know everything but I know they’ve tangled with stuff like legendaries. And what leads up to that? I can’t imagine it’s, like, nice.” He shook his head. “And I mean, I can’t remember the last time any of them willingly talked about that stuff, so…”

Wally twiddled his thumbs. “I guess it never occurred to me.”

“It’s not your fault, I wouldn’t fucking know if I didn’t live in this family either,” Burris interjected, then threw his hands up. The Eevee on his belly stirred for a moment. “But honestly? I kinda didn’t want to go on this because of… that. What I knew, what I didn’t know, it was paralyzing and I didn’t even experience any of it.” Burris waited for a response, only to hear a Marril’s cry. “I mean sure, I’ve dealt with stuff like shitty boyfriends, but that’s nothing compared to what most of my family dealt with on their journeys.”

Burris paused and narrowed his eyes. He held up a lone finger. “And if I can make one recommendation; don’t date. It’s awful unless you really find someone special.”

“Oh.” Wally looked away for a moment. He sighed lightly. “I mean… I see where you’re coming from.” He placed the palms of his hands back on the couch before continuing. “I just- just never dealt with many people, you know? I’m not that far removed from being bed ridden, from making visits to the hospital all the time…” His fingers turned red digging into the cushions. “I mean, Burris, you’re honestly my first friend.” 

Ginnis chirped and glared.

“Oh hush you.” Wally crossed his arms and returned the look. “ _Human_ friend.” His expression softened. “And I… don’t really know how this would be going if you weren’t around.” Burris sat up, and Jonesy hopped down by his side. “So- so I really appreciate you being here, honestly.” 

Burris blinked. “I- yeah.” A chuckle escaped his lips. “I mean, I’m kind of surprised you feel that way after the drinking-“

“We agreed to pretend that never happened, correct?” Wally, somehow, pulled off an impressive “joke about that and I’ll kill you” tone.

“… correct,” Burris said. He chuckled and rubbed his cheek with a pointer finger. “But yeah, I do appreciate having you around too. And-“

An electronic ping interrupted. Briney’s voice rumbled out like an avalanche of cool pebbles. “This is your captain speaking, we’re just 15 minutes out from Dewford.” He paused for a moment. “And while there’s clouds up ahead, I believe the sunset behind us should be very vibrant.”

A glance out the back windows suggested as much, the sky painted a brilliant yellow. In silence the two walked out the door. Waves rolled against the boat in a rhythm. Towards the horizon, a large orange half circle sat. It shimmered brilliantly, reds and purples occasionally intermingling with the yellows and oranges.

“I never thought I’d see anything like this,” Wally said in a hushed whisper. 

“Incredible, isn’t it?” Burris grinned at Wally’s agape mouth. Small moments like this made his worries seem so silly. Burris leaned on the wall. “I’d love a hundred more of these moments.”

“Y-yeah!” Wally stammered out, cheeks flushed for a moment. He covered his mouth with a fist and coughed. “A thousand more, even!”

“That works too.”


	10. Chapter 10

The dock creaked as Burris stepped foot onto Dewford. The sands of the island town possessed few buildings and fewer people. The sands were wet with the summer rains, the trees in the distance lurching and swaying with the strengthening winds. Burris flipped his hood over his head, the light patter massaging his ears. He heard a “nom” from his side, Madison lunging out for a raindrop. And, predictably, failing.

“Is the rain that appetizing to you?” Burris questioned. He got a “bow” in response. Looking up, he saw Briney inspecting his boat. “Are you sure you don’t need anything? Or want to stay at the PokeCenter?”

He chuckled. “I’ve made this trip so many times, lad. I couldn’t think of a single thing I’m missing…” Briney smiled through his bush of a moustache. “And no, but thank you.” 

Burris shrugged. Wasn’t his place to question Briney here. “Fair enough! We’ll let you know when we’re ready to push off for Slateport.” Probably after Wally got his badge. The boy had gone on ahead, ensuring the two a room in the PokeCenter tonight. Burris found himself wondering _why_ they needed to rush but he let Wally go regardless.

He heard splashing in the water beside him. And glancing down, a Poochyena was conspicuously missing and- “MADSON!!” Burris shouted. The water was dim, it was hard to see the Poochyena sprinting away. But he could still hear the barking and _goddammit_ of course she’d swim off at night. Burris scowled and chucked Stuart’s ball up in the air.

The Dustox buzzed at Burris. He glared and pointed out at the splashing. “Please go get Madison before she does something dumb.” Or drowns. That’d be unpleasant too.

With a cry, Stuart fluttered out into the night. His yellow eyes filtered out the darkness, allowing him to catch sight of Madison wrestling with a fish. Stuart frowned a little, and swooped down to grab Madison.

The wind grew slightly harsher as Burris watched Stuart retrieve Madison. She hadn’t gone too far, thankfully, though she held something that _flopped_ in her mouth. Stuart huffed and puffed and carried his load back to shore, the winds occasionally yanking him one direction or another. Breathing heavily, he perched on Burris’ shoulder as Madison held her prize.

A flopping orange Magikarp. Burris rubbed his temples and grabbed a Poke Ball. “I’m not going to bother asking.” 

In a moment, the Magikarp vanished into his Poke Ball. Then the red and white capsule turned into data for a second before vanishing. Burris lurched backwards before reminding himself. “Right, PC transfer…” He muttered. He glared down at Madison, strands of fur now long and wet.

“And that was naughty!” Burris leaned in. He shook a finger at her, the folds in his blue raincoat tussling with the wind. “No!”

Madison licked the finger in response.

-

While Madison shook herself off, Burris looked around the PokeCenter. To his surprise, it wasn’t any different from Rustboro’s. Clean and red and white as ever. The rain was intensifying, however, and the winds started to scream outside. He looked back towards the nurse manning the desk, her light red hair synchronizing perfectly with her pink and white uniform. The sounds of a weather forecast caught his attention. The light of a TV reflected off the bored nurse’s face.

“-the scattered storms around Dewford have organized into Tropical Storm Maria,” the weatherman explained. “It’ll likely intensify before moving along Route 107 and hit Slateport in a day or so…”

“Well at least it’s not sticking around here,” Burris said. He grabbed a towel off of the counter to dry Madson off. Humming, his mind went elsewhere until reality struck him like a bolt of lightning.

“Oh, goddammit!” Of course. They couldn't go onto Slateport if, yanno, it was in the middle of a hurricane.

After grabbing the card key to his room, Burris made his way upstairs after a muttered "thanks". His steps echoed dully in the empty hallways. While the boys had decided to share a room again if it came down to it, there were probably enough rooms for them and each of their Pokemon. Probably because they were the only ones dumb enough to travel to Dewford in the middle of tropical storm season. 

Burris shut the door behind him and skimmed his room. Madison sat patiently by his side and Stuart hovered about, the winds from his wings occasionally teasing Burris’ mess of spikey hair. The bed was looking pretty cozy right now. He turned to his two companions and tapped them on the nose with their respective capsules. 

“I need to shower anyway,” Burris murmured. He smelled like the beach and the ocean got into an all-out brawl. Turning to the bathroom, he quietly shut the door behind him.

Minutes passed and so did the shower and soon Burris stepped back out. He looked down at his shirtless body and huffed. Paler skin contrasted with his tanned arms. “Maybe I should’ve slept shirtless.” He yawned and rubbed his blue eyes. With a flick of a switch, the lights turned off. The rain crashed against his bedside window, the springs struggling against Burris’ weight and the PokeNav clattering down on the end table contrasting with the tropical storm’s orchestra outside his window.

Burris listened and watched. The rolling waves smashed into the beach outside. He saw Briney’s boat rocking up and down in place, the combination of rope and pier proving to be effective. He spied a poncho’d man trudging through the wet sands of the island towards a wooden house deeper within. The lights flicked on.

Which allowed Burris to catch a faint glimpse of a white bushy moustache. _Guess it makes sense for Briney to have a house here…_

The edges of Burris’ pillows fluffed up as his head plopped down again. The wind whistled outside. His eyes drooped. The sounds intensified, rain and wind lashing out whichever way and waves assaulting the beach. 

Burris’ snoring soon joined them

-

Burris slowly came back to consciousness with less than welcoming arms. With a grunt, he rolled over in his bed away from the buzzing annoyance on his night stand. The few clouds trailing behind the tropical storm wrestled with the rising sun.

He eventually gave up his battle for sleep and rested his head against the back of his pillow. His fingers grasped the PokeNav at the edge of his bed

A few old messages cropped up, and Burris’ fingers worked to reply to them all. Yes Mom I’m fine, no Dad Dewford is boring storms or no, Roxanne no I haven’t challenged Brawly and- Burris paused. Was he? 

_… I mean, I guess I’m stuck here for a few days anyway…_ Burris grimaced and tilted his head back and forth. Too early to think. He went to the last message; Wally an hour or so ago. An invite to Granite Cave… Training, apparently. Also supposedly a hot spot for old tribal inscriptions. And/or paintings

Burris raised an eyebrow. Well if nothing else they could spend like five minutes on meaningless art and then go explore/train elsewhere… 

<8:30 am> sure be there in a few

He dug through his bag and tossed on a loose shirt. A magenta one with a yellow insignia on it. The Castelia State Sun Devils, apparently. It was a random gift from his grandparents the last time he visited Unova. Wasn’t sure about the university but it fit nice and it dried better than cotton ever would…

In a flash, Burris was out the door. His feet squished against the wet sands. Wingulls flew around, the occasional gust bullying them around. Burris paused and stared into the distance, over Route 107. Lightning crashed amidst dark gray skies, the faintest hint of an eye forming in the storm. A hurricane? 

_Hopefully Slateport’s ok…_ Burris gawked at the powerful sight for a few moments, then glanced around him. A few tiles here and there and some piles of sand made by the waves, but Dewford seemed to be totally fine otherwise. 

Hell, there were a few locals out and about fishing already. It was like nothing had happened the night before.

 _Kinda cool._ Burris hummed as he trudged through the slick sand. _Though they probably don’t have much else to do but prep for storms, either._

A quick jaunt up the beach and up a sloped incline and Burris found Granite Cave welcoming him with a wide gaping maw. Water dripped softly inside. Peering up inside Burris could see a few Zubats bundled up on the ceilings.

Zubats were annoying but it was kind of mind blowing to think about how they just slept like that. _Imagine if they could teach us that._ Ultimate twin brother prank; hang on the roof of your sister’s bedroom and stare at them as they wake up. _Sienna would probably kill me for that._

His footsteps echoed against the cave floor and he grabbed for a trio of capsules. Stuart fluttered in front of him, while Jorge and Jonesy kept close to his side. The former eyed the bats on the ceiling warily.

“Just don’t wake them up and they won’t annoy you,” Burris said. A wide grin crossed his face. “You learned that lesson from Stuart, _right_?”

Stuart’s chirps sounded like a giggle. Jorge huffed and looked away. It didn’t take long before a choice presented itself; straight ahead opened up into a lower section of the cave, and a set of stairs headed off to the right, with a sign that said. “Ancient Wall Paintings Ahead! Do Not Battle Near It!”

“What are you going to do about it?” Burris asked. He chuckled at some unsaid joke. “You’re a sign.” Jonesy headbutted Burris’ shin gently and frowned up at him. “What? I was kidding.” Jonesy’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Or was the joke not funny.”

Stuart and Jorge chimed in agreement.

“Oh fine,” Burris said, waving them off and walking past the sign. “Madison and Robby would appreciate my humor…”

The narrow path soon opened up again to a spacious room. A massive flat wall sat on the opposite end by a large rocky bump. A large serpent would be seen, splitting the painted heavens above a titanic lizard-like creature by mountains and a large whale-like creature sitting in the sea and surf, thunder crackling above it.

If Burris didn’t catch sight of a shorter, tan woman first he might’ve been super interested in the picture. Dressed in a ragged brown coat, wearing a black t shirt and hiking boots and she had a Bagon on her side and-

“Oh!” Her red eyes stared down Burris, and she waved. “Heeeeeeey, nephew!”

Burris slouched over. “Hi, Zinnia.” The Bagon waved at him; Jorge waved back with a wing. “What are you doing here?” At least Dad gave him some semblance of a warning. But Burris didn’t expect it to be in the literal next fucking town he was going to!

“See the painting?” Zinnia said, stepping aside to give Burris a better view. Upon further inspection, Burris could make out some ancient language. “I’m here studying Rayquaza!” She held her hands above her head like claws and roared.

The Bagon mimicked her.

“Do I want to know?” Burris’s arms interlocked, his head tilted to the side. 

“’cause Dad has Zekrom and your Grandma had Resharim and that’s so cool!” Zinnia clasped her hands together in front of her chest. “I want my own legendary dragon I can talk with!”

“Talk- wait, which Grandma?” Burris raised an eyebrow. “… Aile?”

“She didn’t tell you?” Zinnia said. Then let out an “oooooh”. “Riiiiiight, I just remembered the story Dad told me about all of _that_.” She shrugged and grimaced. “Nevermind!”

“Wonderful, I’ll make sure to never ask her.” Because screw literally every part of that sentence with the dragons. Being connected with a legendary dragon seemed like a giant hassle. Plus, yanno, family with a streak of preventing cataclysmic events. 

_A connection with a legendary dragon and this stupid last name seems like a 1-to-1 correlation with “having to save the world.”_. Against his best thoughts he walked up to Zinnia’s side. The painting still looked cool, at the least.

“I wonder what they used to paint it?” Zinnia asked.

Burris approached the scene in front of his. The legendary beasts of the land and sea seemed even larger than him and then there was the serpent… “The serpent’s Rayquaza here?”

“Mhmm! Dad told me he fended off the legends of the land and sea long ago.” Zinnia tilted her head. “Cooooourse he kinda vanished after that. Something about not being a people person and his job being done.”

“Uh huh.” Burris stared up at the Rayquaza painting. In the back of his mind, he swore he felt something stare back. A quick sidelong glance suggested it wasn’t Zinnia. Nor the pokemon, who were too busy chatting with the Bagon. Burris hesitated for a moment, hand flinching involuntarily centimeters away.

And, for whatever reason, he touched the center of the painting; a set of three orbs with ancient insignias. He could swear he heard whispers of the wind, his heartrate growing faster his head starting to _pound_ as it attempted to process whatever the whispers were staying and there was that _serpent_ staring at him piercing through his mind and and and and

Burris yanked his hand off the stone. He stared at his right hand, examining all the little veins and dirt marks on it. The whispers and the headache vanished without a trace.

“Something wrong?” Zinnia said. She craned her neck back, a chesire grin on her face. “Or does _Aunt_ Zinnia need to kiss a boo boo.”

Burris’ glare could pierce the heavens. “Fuck you.”

“We’re good!”

After a few more minutes of observation Burris moved on. Zinnia seemed intent on studying the image even more- she had taken a tablet and stylus out for notes- so Burris left her. 

“Can’t say I’m sad over that,” Burris muttered. Robby and Jorge by his side and Stuart up ahead, the two descended into the depths of Granite Cave. A murky darkness set in, obscuring Burris’ scan of his hand. He shook his head. It was probably nothing. Something in the chalk or paint or whatever they used to make that painting. Hell it might’ve had feces in it who knows.

Burris stuck his tongue out at the thought. It was farfetched but he was definitely washing his hands after this. “You guys ok?” Focusing on his pokemon was a much better alternative than his current train of thought.

Stuart snapped as he flapped his wings violently at a gremlin-like shadow nearby. Burris caught a glimpse of diamond eyes as the Sabeleye made itself scarce. Robby kicked a pebble while waddling around. The pebble bounced into a pitch black corner.

Burris could feel something warm shake against his leg. He peered down at Jorge and chuckled. “Jorge, really? You’re a fire type, you can generate light at will.”

Jorge blinked, tilted his head, and stepped away from his trainer. Burris had a split second to realize the awful mistake he had made. A small ball of fire highlighted the Zubats hanging on the top of the cave and Burris gritted his teeth as he heard them chirping and beating their wings.

“RUN!”

The group’s retreating footsteps and wings were drowned out by the beats of the Zubat wings mixed with their frenzied cries, a torrent of sound echoing throughout the cave. Fire, water, and psychic energy shot out from behind Burris as he led the retreating party back up towards the entrance. The wall of attacks barely held off the Zubats and Burris howled as he felt one dig its fangs into his arm. 

“Off, damn you!” Burris said, shaking his left arm violently. He’d convince no one of this but he thought he heard the Zubat growling like a Lillipup. Still, he could see light ahead, the exit of the cave was in sight and oh good he could feel the sand under his shoes and hey there was Wally-

CRASH.

Burris felt his head impact with Wally’s forehead with a violent crack. Dizziness took over his vision, the world spinning around him as his head landed softly in the sand. The sky turned into a laundry machine of white puffs and light blue before the world steadied around Burris.

Well, at least he didn’t have a concussion. Hopefully. Maybe. He saw his pokemon above them, Robby with a well-worn scallop on his belly, Jorge picking at a particularly bad cut just above his leg, Stuart’s eyes darting back and forth to make sure the others were ok, a Zubat-

Burris blinked. A Zubat? He looked down at his arm. Two slender red marks sat side by side on his forearm. A Zubat sat in the sands nearby. It breathed heavily, its guts fit to burst with Burris’ blood. Though its stomach looked more like an oversized pimple. 

“Urgh…” Burris could hear Wally stand upright. The boy walked over and offered a hand. “You ok? I’ve never seen you run so fast.”

“Honestly I was expecting you to smack me for running into you head first, but…” Burris and Wally strained as the former was pulled upright again. “Accidentally told Jorge to use Ember inside and well.”

“Oh.” Wally sucked in a sharp breath through his grimace.

Jorge chirped and dropped his eyes. “No, it’s fine Jorge! I’m the dumbass here and-“ And then a light burst out from the Torchic. Moments later, a confused bark from Robby. Followed by _another_ eruption of light from the otter. The first time a pair of evolutions had happened nearly back to back, Burris had sworn to himself it’d never happen again. Two evolutions within five minutes? Preposterous! Two at literally the exact same moment? Well even moreso. 

But as the light faded and a Combusken and Dewott stood in front of him, Burris realized that the universe had essentially conspired to save him. Having one evolve before the other would’ve given the relationship waaaaay too much of a power imbalance.

“Oh wow!” Wally said after an audible gasp. “That’s… amazing!” Stuart buzzed in agreement. 

The two starters nodded at Wally in unison then turned to each other and grinned. Competitiveness burned in their eyes as they met, their smirks saying “I’m going to outdo you for sure!” And probably also saying “and win Burris’ entire approval” even though they were a _team_ and this wasn’t supposed to be _competitive_ though Burris supposed it was better than them fighting all the time. Maybe.

Hopefully. 

Please?

Burris dusted himself off and heard a weak screech. He was going to have sand in his junk for weeks after this adventure. The Zubat laid exhausted in the sand still.

“Aw, poor thing.” Wally clasped his hands together. 

Burris hid his rolling eyes the best he could. Annoying blood suckers. Still he grabbed a capsule. “Well, Birch can study it if nothing else, so…” With a toss and a flash and a beep, the Zubat was safely tucked away in its Poke Ball and teleported away to the PC System.

“Good.” Wally happily sighed then turned to Burris. He scratched his head. “So uh, what were you doing in Granite Cave?”

Burris blinked. “I got your text…” He fumbled around for his PokeNav. He winced as the cold plastic pressed against a cut in his finger. _Damn Zubats._

“Did you get my _other_ texts?”

Burris rolled his eyes up, then swiped a couple of times on his PokeNav and-

<8:46 am> Nevermind! Sorry! I went and got breakfast instead.  
<8:50 am> Maybe we can go around lunch?

Burris’s eyes turned to slits. In silence, he turned away from Wally and towards a nice flat piece of stone wall.

“Buris, what are you-“ Burris’ forehead thudded once against the granite. “Um.”

And then he let loose a yell that startled all of the Wingulls within a hundred miles, shook Granite Cave to its core, and caused a minimum of one fisherman nearby to drop his rod into the water, an unseen Clauncher swimming away with it and cackling madly. 

Burris felt like it did, anyway. It was probably the minor concussion talking.

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?”


	11. A Burning Sensation

Stupid Zubats… Burris huffed and plopped down on the side of his bed. Robby and Jorge had taken to their own little corner of the room, jawing about their new evolved forms or something or another. Stuart hovered nearby and before long the two newly evolved pokemon bombarded him with questions.

The cheap door swung open again and Wally came storming in. Bandages and rubbing alcohol were in his hands and a Ralts nestled in his hair.

“You ate the Pecha Berry, right?” Wally asked.

“Yeah,” Burris grumbled. The bed bounced as Wally jumped on it. Walking on his knees, he moved behind Burris. 

“Ok so… to make this easier on everyone you’re going to-“ Wally sighed. “-need to take off your shirt.” 

“Practically a bunch of goddamn rags anyway,” Burris said. He swore under his breath as he tossed the shirt to the ground, the holes allowing it to practically float for a few moments before Stuart swooped in and picked it up. The moth buzzed out a question. “Yeah, sure, do what you want with it.”

“Uh…” Wally said. Robby doused the rags in water and a small puddle formed on the floor. Jorge took a couple of careful steps back. “Anyway!” Wally shook the bottle of rubbing alcohol before applying the solution to the tower. “This is…” His green eyes darted back and forth between the myriad of smaller scratches before landing on a large cut almost on a direct diagonal down from Burris’ right shoulder blade. “Wow, the Zubats got you with a real nasty cut back here.”

Burris seized up. “Uh, really? I didn’t feel it.” Instinctively, his blue eyes dropped to Robby. The Dewott looked on as Stuart worked to devour the ruined shirt. For a moment. Before long Stuart spat out a few smaller pieces. Robby didn’t notice his trainer’s silent plea for help.

Wally shook his head. “No, wait. This is an old one.” Burris could hear Wally suck in a sharp breath. “Looked like it hurt, too.” There were a lot of stitches back there.

Burris waved Wally off. “Just focus on the new shit, alright?” 

Wally flinched. “You didn’t have to raise your voice like that,” he said, barely above a whisper. He dabbed the end of the clear plastic bottle into a cheap white towel. 

Burris heard the liquids shaking around. He sighed. No, he didn't have to. Of course, he didn’t have time to apologize before letting out a “FUCK!” Burris felt the solution burn his cuts as it cleaned. The damp towel would’ve felt nice otherwise but holy-

“We’re even,” Wally said. Burris’ eyes narrowed at the sounds of a giggle. The burning went off and on for a few moments. Burris winced, left eye occasionally twitching. Goddamn it to hell, this stupid rubbing alcohol and Wally noticing the stupid scar and those goddamn _Zubats_ that starting off this entire streak and-

Burris’ PokeNav rumbled against the end table. He craned his neck over, catching the white name flashing on the dark screen. “Oh! One second!” Burris snatched up the device and tapped the green phone button. Birch’s large grinning mug consumed the screen. 

“Hey there, scout!” Birch said with a chuckle. “Long time no chat! Your old man said you got a badge!”

“Heh,” Burris said. He ignored Wally reaching around him for a moment. “Terri and Robby did an awesome job there.” 

“The Lombre, right?” Birch said.

“Yes si- FUCK!” Burris shouted at the surprise burning sensation on his left forearm. Birch blinked. 

“S-sorry!” Wally stammered out. “Rubbing alcohol. Burris had a run in with a buncha Zubats.”

Birch clapped his hands together and laughed. “I was wondering why you got that Zubat!” 

“You could at least _pretend_ to be concerned, you know,” Burris said with a scowl. Wally peered over Burris’ shoulder and waved at the professor. Burris felt the soft touch of gauze before medical tape was wrapped tight around it.

“Eh.” Birch clasped his hands behind his head. “Little Zubat poison never killed anyone. ‘Sides, it’s practically a rite of passage for trainers!”

“Yeah?” Burris asked, jabbing a right thumb at Wally. “Then why didn’t he deal with it?”

“’cause he’s the smart one,” Birch said. He crossed his arms and smirked. “And you’re way too much like your old man. Running headstrong into danger.”

“Sure, “headstrong into danger”.” Air quotes punctuated Burris sentence. “Or Jorge accidentally used Ember-“

“-you accidentally _ordered_ him to use Ember.” Wally coughed.

Burris glared. “Shut up.” Burris heard claws raking against the PokeCenter’s tile. It mixed horribly with Birch’s loud howling laughter. Jorge and Robby looked on and Burris tilted his PokeNav towards them. He noticed a few new scratches on the device. “Anyway Birch! Jorge and Robby evolved from that madness!”

“Oh!” Birch wiped a tear from his eye. His stubble magnified as he leaned in. “Awesome! I haven’t seen a Dewott in a long time,” he said. He leaned back and crossed his arms. “See, the Zubat assault wasn’t so bad after all.”

“Down a shirt, though.” Burris hissed at the burning sensation on his back once more. “Gaaaah that STINGS!” Burris’ free hand gripped the sheets like iron.

“Almost done!” Wally said. “My Treecko evolved too, Mr. Birch!”

“Oh, Jackie did? Awesome.” Birch nodded and grinned widely. Though he seemed to be always smiling in some form or another. “I’m glad you both are having fun.” He hummed and tapped his pen on his desk. “’course Sienna seems to be way ahead now…”

“4 badges? 5?” Burris questioned.

“Actually… no. She just got her third one,” Birch said. 

“Huh.” Burris rubbed his cheek.

“Your mom was surprised too,” Birch explained. “Though I heard that Mauville gym leader is a reaaaaal tough cookie now… oh yeah.” Birch straightened up. “Do you know her, by chance? Supposedly she moved here from Unova after Wattson passed.”

Burris shrugged. “I dunno. Might be a friend of Grandma’s.” 

Birch rubbed his chin. “Yeah, I don’t know why I asked you.” He clicked his tongue. “Though speaking of gym leaders, are you challenging Brawly soon?”

“I am! The gym’s closed today but we’re fighting him tomorrow morning,” Wally said. “If I can get Ginnis to evolve I’m sure it won’t be too tough.”

Burris looked away as Birch’s attention went to him. “Burris?”

“… Maybe,” Burris muttered. Then he sighed. “Honestly? We’re probably stuck here until that stupid storm passes by Slateport, so who knows?” He shrugged. Wally and Birch blinked. Burris rubbed the back of his head and giggled a little. “I-I mean, I didn’t do too badly with Roxanne, right? If I’m stuck here of all places for a couple of days…”

“You do have a Dustox,” Wally pointed out. “And who knows? If Jonesy knows Charm already he could evolve into Sylveon.” 

“Yeeeeep, a fairy type should do you with him,” Birch explained. “He has a Toxicroak and a Lucario he likes to bring out for later badge ranks, but this early? Pfft.” Birch gestured with a single hand. “Nah. Most you might need to worry about is a Meditate for your Dustox.”

“Some kids mentioned he managed to catch a Crabrawler on a trip to Alola, too,” Wally advised. 

“Do you spend all day on the forums still?” Burris quirked an eyebrow.

“N-no!” Wally protested. “I train too!”

“And act like my nurse, apparently.” Burris stuck his tongue out at Wally, who blushed a little. “But seriously, thanks. I like Robby but it’s probably ill advised to let him treat me medically.” Robby crossed his arms and snorted. His feet plopped against the floor away from Burris. “Oh come on, you’re acting offended over that one?” Jorge shrugged and grinned before following. 

Birch laughed then coughed. “Oh before I go. Burris? About the Magikarp and Zubat you caught…” His head wobbled side to side. “Kinda need names for them. Pokemon respond to you if they have a name they can focus on.”

“Right.” Burris hummed for a moment. “Uh, Dennis for the Magikarp and Morris for the Zubat.” He blinked. “Uh, assuming they’re male.”

“Wow, lucky guesses,” Birch said. He reached for his laptop. “I’m not gonna keep you inside all day anyway; it’s beautiful out and it sounds like you two have training to do!”

“Bye!” the two said in unison, waving before the screen went black again.

“You’re serious about Brawly?” Wally asked.

Burris tossed his hands up. “At a minimum; the only other thing I can do here is help you train.” The springs protested against his knees as he turned around to face Wally. “I mean, it’s that or in this room all day. Or a bar.”

“How do you know there’s a-“

Burris’ hands slapped against his sides. “You don’t get out much, do you?” Rule of thumb; backwoods places always had bars. And some probably had more bars than houses.

“W-well.” Wally pressed his fingers together. “Not until a week ago, no.”

-

The waves and sands got along much better than last night. Water lapped against the shore. Wingulls squawked at each other, the occasional fight over food being broken up by an older Pelipper. Fishermen tossed lines into the calm seas with little a care, Corphish by their sides in case they hooked something fierce.

Towards the tree line, two boys and their teams were assembled. Burris ordered Jonesy to use Tackle; Wally sighed as Ginnis elected to teleport onto his head again.

“Ginnis…” Wally complained. The Ralts chuckled and made himself comfortable. “We’ve got to fight Brawly tomorrow, you gotta concentrate!”

Jonesy barked and shrugged a little Eevee shrug before prancing back to Burris. He figured Stuart would be good enough for Brawly even without much training. Plus he hadn’t really worked with Jonesy much at all. Little guy was cute but he needed some toughening up that wasn’t Madison wrestling with him.

“Are you still doing alright?” Burris asked. He knelt into the sand to get a closer look. A few burn marks and sand littered the Eevee’s fur but Jonesy didn’t seem to mind. He nuzzled his head into Burris’ petting hand. While the evolved members of his team were the strongest- Terri especially, though Robby and Jorge seemed about even- Jonesy definitely packed a punch. He even held his own against Wally’s Grovyle before Wally switched him out. Burris had heard a few stories of Aile’s team members in their prime, and it sure seemed like Jonesy was prepared to take on his father’s legacy. The sound of feet crunching sand interrupted Burris’ observations.

“Sorry about Ginnis, Jonesy.” Wally glared up at Ginnis before bending down. “He’s a little primadonna when it comes to fights.” A pink PokePuff laid in Wally’s outstretched hand. Jonesy’s eyes glimmered with hope, the tasty treat only inches, then centimeters, then impossibly close then-!

Jonesy chomped down on air. His eyes shot open, brown eyes darting around with suspicion. A few feet away, Ginnis reappeared and so too did the PokePuff. 

“Ginnis!” Wally shouted. His anger faded away into acceptance, shoulders slouched. “Honestly, you are the worst.”

Jonesy stared at the sight for a few moments. His fur bristled, his muscles tensed, his eyes narrowed. “Jonesy? Buddy, Wally has like hundreds of those, you-“

And then he bared his fangs, though describing his tiny teeth as that felt generous. A low guttural growl emerged from the Eevee’s lips. Ginnis had his back to him. He eyed the pastry for a few moments before biting down once.

Before Ginnis could even comprehend what he had truly done, Jonesy’s growl turned into a mix of snarls and ferocious barks. For an Eevee mind you. In a flash Jonesy dashed out at Ginnis with surprising speed. Ginnis shuffled around just in time to be slammed down into the sand by Jonesy’s paws.

“Jonesy!” Burris snapped. _I am never feeding you and Madison PokePuffs at the same time._ The little shit would steal Jonesy’s treat and then half the goddamn PokeCenter would be gone before anyone figured out what had happened. Ginnis squeaked and vanished away into nothingness. But when he reappeared, his ferocious attacker still on top of him and dripping down drool.

If Burris was being honest, this all was more "cute" than "intimidating".

So instead Ginnis’ eyes glowed purple. Wally and Burris exchanged worried glances as Jonesy growled at the psychic energies assaulting him. His eyes spun around like a top while the Ralts shuffled away for freedom. 

Until there was another snarl. Jonesy slammed his head into Ginnis’ back. The ironclad grip the psychic type once had failed, the offending PokePuff flying into the blue skies. Ginnis sank into the sand as Eevee's paws dug in to pounce. Moments later, after using the Ralts like an improvised springboard, Jonesy landed on the ground with the treat in her mouth. Lying down, she gently used her paws to keep the PokePuff clean of sand. Though given how fast Jonesy subsequently ate it, Burris wasn’t sure he’d care much if it got dirty. Burris grunted and covered his eyes for a moment. Suddenly the sun just got really bright which made absolutely no sense and- wait.

“Wait, what?” Burris blurted out. Light exploded outwards from both Eevee and Ralts. “Seriously? This shit again?” Jonesy’s body grew to almost double his size, ribbons trailing outwards and a bow forming on his neck. His bell collar snapped off and jingled helplessly on the way down.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Wally said. Ginnis hair turned almost into pigtails, dropping down in front of his face. His legs grew long and slender, his gown-like lower body forming into a skirt-like dress. “Though I suppose Pokemon generally evolve more frequently at this stage…”

“Yeah?” Burris said back. “You should hear my mom bitch about Unovan pokes never evolving then!” His statement was practically punctuated by the light fading away from the two Pokemon. The boys’ clothes rippled at the energy expelled for a brief moment. 

Jonesy turned around to face Ginnis, big blue eyes looking at his new ribbons. Ginnis leaped like a ballerina over to the Sylveon’s side, bending over and scanning Jonesy’s new form. Jonesy barked and smacked Ginnis with a ribbon, leaving a small red mark on the Kirilia’s face. Tears practically on command flowed from Ginnis’ eyes.

Wally glared upwards and crossed his arms, the Kirilia teleporting and now sitting on his head.

“You kinda deserve that,” he pointed out. Ginnis huffed and placed his hands on his hips.

Burris bent down to place Jonesy’s bell collar back around his neck. “You know, Ginnis, you look like a girl right now.” Burris grumbled and shoved the collar into his pocket. It’d need a new strap probably.

Ginnis’s red eyed glare could kill a man, and Wally turned his to Burris too.

“That was uncalled for,” Wally said. “There’s nothing wrong with looking girly.”

“Yeah?” Burris said. He flipped Jonesy’s ears up. God, it looked like Jonesy got dipped in a mutagen crossed with holiday egg coloring… “You realize no one’s going to believe he’s a guy until he evolves again, right?” 

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Burris.” Wally’s tone grew more cold and tense as he walked past. Burris followed.

“I’m just saying!” Burris replied. “It’s true!”

The debate went back and forth through the town. Burris felt even that term was generous for this place. The sun started to dip in the sky by the time Wally pointed out that Jonesy looked even _more_ girly than Ginnis did.

“So? We’re not the ones getting annoyed by it.” Jonesy’s chirp sounded more like a laugh. A wide grin that seemed to cackle soundlessly crossed Burris’ face.

Wally looked away again. Ginnis bounced off and kicked sand at Burris.

“You are the literal worst, you know that?” Wally said. The argument carried on inside the PokeCenter. A different nurse from the other night manned the desk. How Burris could tell it was a different nurse was anyone’s guess. 

“I’m sorry Wally, you’re just…” Burris laughed and wiped his eyes. He ruffled Wally’s hair. “You’re just way too easy to fluster.”

Wally hmphed and shut his eyes. “Then maybe I just won’t talk to you again.”

“No one believes you,” Burris shot back. Wally didn’t respond, Ginnis following him up the stairs. “Seriously, Wally. C’mon now.” Burris grabbed the stair’s railing. Sandy footprints trailed behind the boys. “You’re going to talk to me again eventually!” Jonesy chirped in agreement. “Or otherwise I’m not gonna stop!”

Wally stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down. “Shut up.”

“Told you,” Burris said, hands behind his head. 

“Uggggggh.” Wally slouched, rolled his eyes, and looked away. “Why are you always like this with me?!”

“Because I-“ Burris paused, amused demeanor replaced by a grimace and wide eyes. He stretched his left arm behind his back and rubbed the line of bumps on his back. “Because you’re just that easy to tease, that’s why.” He said in a quiet tone, forcing his grin back by the time they reached their room doors.

Wally snorted but his smile soon returned. “Fair enough.” Burris cocked an eyebrow as Wally flashed him a sideways glance. He opened his door. “I guess that just makes it easier to tell your dad what happened the night before Roxanne.”

“W-wait-“ Wally’s muffled laughter could be heard beyond the wall. Burris groaned, frozen with his hand outstretched. He sighed and bent over, staring at the ground. Jonesy chirped out a more sophisticated response; Burris could swear the Sylveon said “you kinda deserved that.”

“Yeah, probably.” Burris shook his head, uttering a light chuckle before his own door clicked shut behind him.


	12. All-Out Pummeling

Burris head rumbled with thoughts. Rain poured down his window, darkness and water obscuring Dewford from view. Jonesy snored by his side. Burris felt the short plush fur on Jonesy’s ears between his fingers.

While the scratches and bites from the Zubat still stung, those would go away with time. He felt the bumps of his old scar against the cheap cotton sheets. Blue eyes turned to the end table, covered in a mess of towels, a PokeNav, and capsules. 

The room temporarily lit up. Light formed into Robby by Burris side. Jonesy shifted and stretched for a moment but curled up again immediately afterwards. Robby rubbed his eyes. 

“Hey,” Burris said. Robby chirped in annoyance for a brief second before getting a better look at his trainer’s face. Burris pat the open spot by his right. Seconds later, Burris felt Robby’s damp body against his, whiskers teasing his right arm. 

In a moment, Robby was out again, head against Burris’ chest. Burris closed his eyes and smiled a little. He wasn’t a small Oshawott anymore, but he wasn’t too big for nights like these. Nights were his mind incessantly kept him up. Telling him “Hey, remember this?” Pause, a mental sigh preceding an internal fight. Rumbling back and forth, reminding him of that _one_ time but this time was _different_ and no it’s _not_ and god I just want to _sleep_ please **stop** -

Robby cuddled in closer to his trainer. Burris held his nagging thoughts at bay just long enough to let sleep take him.

-

Morning came, and Burris stretched out and yawned. Momentarily panic set in as he no longer felt his sleeping companions by his side. A second look around saw the two of them staring out the window together and chatting. Burris relaxed. 

He checked his PokeNav. 10 am. Wally was probably wrapping up his fight now. Burris had his at 11:30. After that they could hopefully up and leave for Slateport with Briney. An hour to get dressed and ready. Then some breakfast too. 

“Probably relying on PokeCenter breakfast bars again,” Burris grumbled. He tossed his blanket off of his bed. Brushing his teeth, he flipped off his PokeNav alarm set for 11:30. He wasn’t sure why he needed an alarm that late, but after what happened the night before Roxanne Burris wasn’t in the business of taking chances.

Tossing on a looser red shirt, Burris flipped on the TV. Hurricane Maria had dissipated into a depression, what was left of it was giving Mauville some desperately needed rain. That city was in a weird spot; while the southwestern and eastern parts of Hoenn were always drenched during the summer months, Mauville was just close enough to Mt. Chimney to risk the occasional drought. Likewise with Verdenturf.

He sorted through his texts. Mom and Dad wishing him good luck, likewise with Birch, Roxanne asking him what he thought of Brawly.

“He’s like 30,” Burris muttered, shaking his head. How Roxanne seemed to have interest in both of them was beyond Burris’ comprehension. Was it his clothing style? Meh. Burris briefly considered asking Roxanne if she was sure Brawly wasn’t gay. Burris tapped his chin and stared at a bit of peeling paint. At that point she’d probably team up with Wally to bludgeon him to death. So he texted her back “not into older dudes”.

His PokeNav set against the bed stand once more, Burris observed Robby peppering Jonesy with questions. About what, nobody knew… but Jonesy did seem a bit flustered all things considered. Must be his imagination. He checked the clock; 10:45.

Ugh. The worst. Just enough time to be bored to tears for forever, not enough time to actually do anything about it. Mercifully a pair of fishermen got into a (drunken?) brawl outside of his window. That served as suitable entertainment for the next 25-30 minutes while Burris munched on a granola bar that tried its best to absorb all of the liquid in his body

And then it was time to go.

-

Jonesy and Stuart’s capsules were attached snugly to the front of Burris’ belt. Strategies ran through his mind for Brawly. The simplest seemed to be lead with Stuart until the Dustox couldn’t cut it anymore and let Jonesy clear out the rest. Stuart had reasonably strong Gust and Confusion attacks but Jonesy had learned Draining Kiss upon evolving. 

Plus the stars in Swift had turned pink, which was cute and probably meant something. 

Wally had texted Burris after the former’s fight. Brawly had his Machop, Meditite, and Hariyama in his arsenal but Ginnis had little issue with them. Hariyama. Damn, that had to have been a sight. Ginnis dancing around the mountain of a Pokemon, laughing as he teleported away from the beast… It made Burris kind of sad he decided to sleep in. 

The gym sat before Burris, not unlike Roxanne or his dad’s. The boy quietly contemplated what would happen if he chickened out now. He felt confident, certainly, but he also didn’t need the badge either. If Gym battles weren’t so thoroughly regulated- Dad liked to read some of the legalese in the rulebook to repel Burris and Sienna if they were being annoying- Burris probably would’ve backed out.

Still, he had a Sylveon and a Dustox and it was his second gym match. What could go wrong?

The path from the open doors to the gym floor wasn’t unlike Roxanne’s, really. Replace the fossils and museum with a literal gym and it was in concept the same thing. Smelled totally differently, though. Smelled like a boys room to the extreme. Burris eyed a bench, flat iron weights with a hole in them sitting by the side, and found himself wondering how much Wally could lift.

 _Maybe the bar._ Another set of sliding doors led him into the next room; a large sandy arena sprawled out in front of him. The same size as Roxanne’s practically. The white regulation lines sat on the stone surrounding the arena. The salty breeze floated through the room, from the sea splashing against the beach nearby. Windows surrounded the arena; Burris assumed they were reinforced. 

It was close enough to the water Burris wondered how Brawly didn’t have to rebuild after each nasty storm. Though speaking of; he appeared to be dozing on the arena floor, headset over his ears and sunglasses protecting him from the sun slipping through the glass windows that essentially made up the walls.

Burris walked to the opposite side of the arena and hummed. Brawly seemed so relaxed, but… “BRAWLY!!!!” Burris hollered. 

Brawly jumped up with a start, sand falling out of his blue hair and onto his orange form-fitting shirt. Between that and the gym shorts… damn, they really _did_ have a similar fashion sense. Burris wasn’t so sure about the black gloves or the orange-tinted sunglasses, though. 

 

“Oh, Burris! Sorry about that little dude, I was just dozing.” Brawly chuckled and wrestled the rest of the sand out of his hair. “Busy week as always, but I’m always up to crash against another one of Eli’s kids.”

“Great,” Burris chuckled. It was kind of weird seeing Brawly outside of one of Dad’s social gatherings. Roxanne was new enough that Burris hadn’t seen her at any of those. He had stopped attending the social gatherings after he was old enough to be allowed home alone. “Glad to see you too, Brawly.”

“Yeah, you too slugger!” Brawly grunted and stretched his arms above his head. “So… second badge, right?” 

Burris nodded. “Yeah.”

“Mhm,” Brawly said. He rolled his neck around before grabbing for his first capsule. “Gotta admit with the way your dad was talking, I was surprised a bit when you popped up on my challenger list.”

“Kinda figured if I had to help Wally train I could do this too,” Burris admitted with a shrug. “Might be sort of a waste to train and not do anything with it, I guess.” 

“Huh, yeah. Good way to think about things,” Brawly said. In a flash, a gray humanoid creature plopped down into the sand. A Machop; not unlike the worker’s from a few days back, but definitely more muscular. “’sides, you know how regulated these things are. Pokemon never get severely injured.”

Stuart appeared on the opposite side of the field, buzzing and hovering around. 

“Yeah, my dad mentioned that once or twice,” Burris said. His mind flashed back to the piles of paperwork Dad had to go through when they first moved here. 

“Cool. So, two on two, you get the idea,” Brawly said. He chuckled. “’course I already see you’ve got a Dustox. Max, Bulk Up.” The Machop complied, but a command from Burris found the fighting type struggling against a Gust from Stuart, yellow eyes focused entirely on his opponent. 

“Yeah, I’m uh… sorry, I guess?” Burris said, then shrugged. Another exchange of commands, and Max found himself dangling off of the very bottom of Stuart. The Dustox bounced up and down against the weight and force of the Machop pulling him down, but then his eyes glowed purple.

The force of the Machop’s impact obscured him with a cloud of sand.

“Nah, don’t be,” Brawly said. “I’ve fought so many of these battles it’s not a big deal. Let’s me toughen up some of the younger Machop and Makuhita I’ve got around here, anyway.” Max shook his head and stood up again, fists at the ready. “Not really worth it to bring out Pokemon here if they’re not gonna get better, right?”

“Yeah,” Burris said with a smile. He remembered Dad at first griped about not being able to go all out all the time, but that soon went away. Sand and wind intermingled, Stuart’s Gust assaulting Max once more. “Makes sense.”

Max stood for a moment, gray body partially caked in sand. The Machop fell to one knee. 

“Max, can you keep going?” Brawly asked. Max shivered, sand dropping off in an attempt to stand upright… and then he went back down to one knee. “Nah. Oh well, you did good buddy.”

Stuart fluttered back to Burris and buzzed a question. Burris patted the Dustox on the head before procuring his Poke Ball. The field went quiet.

“Oh?” Brawly chuckled and crossed his arms. “Now I’m just curious to see what you’ve got next. Sienna had a little Surskit but then brought out this silver Beldum! Silver and gold, really cool!” Brawly continued to talk mid-throwing motion, a white and red poke ball plopping down into the sand. “Even knew Zen Headbutt already and all.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her. Probably one of Grandma’s Beldum.” Burris rubbed his chin, holding Jonesy’s Poke Ball in his free hand. “Beta? Gamma? Forgot which one was the shiny one.” With a flick of a wrist and a burst of light a Sylveon stood. Jonesy’s nose twitched at the faint salty and sweaty smell.

“Oh, Sylveon? Awesome!” Brawly said, grinning. A Makuhita pounded his belly once or twice. He lifted one leg and slammed it down, and then likewise with the other. Like a little sumo wrestler. It was cute. “Yanno, that’s a pretty good fit for you.” 

Burris groaned. “Is this because of the baby blue suit I used to wear to the parties?” Jonesy’s ribbons waving while pink stars formed around him. A lightning fast Swift attack bombarded the Makuhita, belly fat rippling from the blows

“Nah. See, Beldum are pretty analytical and focused. Like your sis,” Brawly explained. “Maurice, try a Bullet Punch!” The Makuhita cackled, left fist surrounded by cold gray steel. Jonesy chirped as the attack closed in at lightning speeds, waves of sand obscuring Maurice’s wake. 

Jonesy cried out at the steel impacting with his nose. A little bit of blood trickled out onto his white fur. Burris shivered a little. “Y-yeah, I can see that.” Pink energy outlined Jonesy before he slammed into Maurice, the little tub of lard jiggling and rolling backwards. 

“And Sylveon are compassionate little buggers,” Brawly continued. Maurice hopped upright, sand sliding off of his yellow skin. “Little more emotional and worried too.”

“Mmmm,” Burris hummed for a moment. He didn’t really have a particular objection to Brawly here. Another order, and a spray of pink stars slammed into Maurice. I mean, sure, it kinda made sense? It just felt weird being described as that by one of Dad’s co-workers. 

Then again the first one tried hitting on him, _so_. 

“Yeah, you have a point,” Burris replied. He looked away and coughed. Bruises were splotched all over Maurice’s body, the Makuhita sitting upright in the sand.

“Maurice?” Brawly called. He got a halfhearted grunt in return. With a shrug, Brawly returned his pokemon. “Oh well. Anyway, gotta say it’s cool to see Eli’s boy taking on the challenge.” Brawly trudged across the field, sand slipping through his exposed toes. He stopped just a few feet short of Burris, a different mischievous grin on his face. 

“’sides, I remember when you tried flirting with all of the older women when you were a little tyke,” Brawly teased. 

Burris stared back daggers. “Oh for fucks.” He tossed his hands up. “My dad told me to do it because he thought it was _funny_ and he knew I didn’t know any better!” His cheeks were flush red. “B-besides, I was five!” 

Brawly chuckled and rustled Burris’ hair. 

“I’m messin with you, scout.”

“Please stop,” Burris pleaded, gaze softening. “I mean, with the teasing and rustling hair both.” 

Brawly retracted his hand and slapped it down at his side. “Fair ‘nough!” His other hand rummaged through a pocket and in a second procured a TM and a badge. A silver-y blue fist thing with a red thumb. “Anyway kid, you won fair and square but I’ll give you these under one condition.”

“Yeah?” Burris tilted his head as he raised an eyebrow.

“You come back and fight my full team after you make it to the top.”

Burris straightened up and blinked. “Who said anything about that?” Burris snapped and waved the gym leader off.

“Oh? I saw that look in your eyes. That gleam all the good ones got.” Brawly placed the objects on Burris’ head. Brawly never saw anyone grab those items as fast as Burris did. Brawly crossed his arms. “’sides, why did you come here today?”

“Because I had to train with Wally anyway, I told you.”

Brawly smirked and bent in close. “Yeah? Nothing about that forced you to come here.”

“Well, otherwise it’d be a waste! And Wally wouldn’t have a training partner.” Burris stared up at Brawly.

The gym leader withdrew just a bit and rubbed the tip of his chin. “So you’re not aiming for the top, yet you’d consider training and not fighting a leader a waste?”

“W-well… yes?” Burris shrugged sheepishly. “I don’t-“

Brawly’s smile turned wide. “See? You’ve got that spark. That drive.” Brawly sighed thoughtfully and turned his back towards Burris. “I like the sea. That was my original reason to journey, yanno? See the rest of the oceans in this region.” He laughed a “I was young and dumb” laugh. “Still got the Makuhita I started with. Hammerick, he’s a grumpy Hariyama now.” Brawly shook his head and looked back at Burris. “But I discovered I really liked fighting types, liked fighting all sorts of people and showing em all what some kid from the backwater could do!” 

He smacked a fist on his palm, fire burning in his eyes. He chuckled and placed a hand on Burris’ shoulder.

“You’ll discover what’ll drive you to the top. That spark, that drive matters a lot more than where you started.” Burris felt himself sink a little into the sand. “Remember that. Your family all had to figure out what drove them too, and Sienna will figure out what really drives her soon enough.” 

Burris nodded, a blank “the hell do I say” look on his face.

“I’m not blowing smoke up your ass; I promise you, you can do this.” Burris spied sparks and fire in Brawly’s eyes and Burris swore he could fell some of Brawly’s determination transfer to him telepathically.

“Tell me, what’s stopping you? No bullshit, what exactly is stopping you?”

Burris struggled to find a response.

-

It didn’t take too long for Burris to pack his bag. It dawned on him suddenly; he had used his tent very little so far. Though knowing what he knew about the region, he’d likely need it heading up around Mt. Chimney. And the hike between Mauville and Fortree was a long one as well. 

Still, those were a long ways away. Brawly’s words bounced around in his head. He kinda had a point, admittedly. Two badges went by swimmingly. Burris knew the badges got exponentially tougher as you went up the ranks, but if he was going to be exploring around anyway he was going to need a team tough enough to tackle the wild critters.

And, Burris supposed, if he had a team tough enough to protect him out in the wild he had one tough enough to try and take on Gym Leaders. Besides, they were so heavily regulated that crippling injuries were borderline nonexistent.

Let alone the D word.

He shook that thought out of his head violently. Burris knew one thing for certain; he knew Grandma Aile didn’t have any traditional starter pokemon with her still. 

The noon Dewford sun interrupted his thoughts, his eyes squinting at the burning rays. He tossed on a pair of sunglasses and relaxed slightly. The PokeCenter was practically a hop, skip, and a jump away from Dewford’s dingy docks. Briney’s boat was practically of royalty compared to the tin cans surrounding it.

Between that and Wally waving in front of it, Burris had zero chances of getting lost.

“Burris! Briney’s getting his boat ready,” Wally said. He held up a hand for a high five and Burris smiled as their hands slapped together.

“Sweet! And we both won!” Burris said. Wally squealed a little, smiling and blushing and god he was just. A lightbulb went off in Burris’ head, and he brought out his PokeNav. Wally peered over his shoulder. After a few taps, Burris held the device above Wally and him. 

“Victory selfie?” Burris looked to Wally. The boy nodded. “Victory selfie.” 

The camera clicked and beeped. Burris stuck his tongue out a little, his grin as wide as the ocean. Burris’ middle and pointer fingers formed bunny ears behind Wally. His hands were clasped together by his waistline, a polite but beaming smile plastered on his face. If anything, his blush had deepened but his blue eyes _shined_ and the way the wind played with his hair was-

“Burris?” Wally said. He now stood in the boat waving. Burris fumbled with the PokeNav before shoving it in his pocket. “Briney said we’re ready to go.”

“Right, uh, coming.” Burris frowned and hopped onto the boat, which dipped ever so slightly at the force of his jump.

The sound of the anchor chain being wound up could be heard though muffled by the ocean waves. Burris watched Wally disappear inside once again, and he plopped down with a sigh. He brought out the PokeNav again, still on the selfie.

He breathed a short heavy sigh through his nose, the boat shuddering as the engine roared to life. 

Stupid. It was so stupid.

The boat pushed off, Burris plopped his head against the wall. The happiness from before gave way to the lingering nagging thoughts that kept him awake last night. Another heavy sigh through his nostrils. Goddammit all.

He shut his eyes, hoping to find a spot to leave those thoughts behind. If but for a few moments.


	13. Another Time and Place

Thousands of miles away, across time zones and half way across the world from little ol’ Dewford, a man wearing a dark black police shirt over a plain red one and matching pants stood in front of a small cottage in Celestic Town. Mt. Coronet loomed in the distance; even after having been to Lanakila once or twice it still seemed massive.

A purplish Persian stood by Nanu’s side, purring and staring at the plain wooden door. Thoughts ran through Nanu’s head at hundreds of miles an hour, sorting through information and discarding the unimportant bits as soon as they came. It had been a few hours ago since Anabel had filed a report from the Hoenn case, focused around Team Aqua and Team Magma.

Nanu adjusted the black crystal on his slim metal necklace and moved his grip on his manila folders. He could hear her shuffling around inside, what was taking so long? He shrugged. Might not have been dressed; Nanu knew he was an hour or two early. His thoughts drifted back to the files; Team Magma had taken to digging inside of Mt. Chimney. Anabel was going there next with one of Aile’s grandkids. Sienna, if he remembered right. 

“Typical Junipers,” Nanu muttered. 

His Persian purred. “Yeah, I know Percival.” Percy mrowed, annoyed. Nanu went up to the door again. “Cynthia, are you ready yet?”

No response, but the sounds of platform shoes could be heard alongside heavier footsteps. The door opened. Her blonde hair had mostly given way to silver by this point, wrinkles on her face also showing signs of her age. She had ditched her formal black outfit years ago, replaced by a baby blue top and gray pants. A Garchomp stood by her side, her yellow eyes glowering down at Percival.

The Persian cackled, earning himself a growl from the mighty dragon. 

“Grace, please, you should be used to him by now,” Cynthia pleaded then sighed. 

Nanu grinned. “Nah, Percy’s a bit of a shit. Needs someone like me or Grace there to keep an eye on him.” Percy fluttered his eyelids and let out a cute purr, putting on the best kitty eyes an Alolan Persian could manage. 

Grace crossed her fins. The stare down continued. Cynthia smiled and gently grabbed Nanu’s hand. “I suppose he’s much like his trainer, mmmm?”

“Aren’t they all?” Nanu let Cynthia lead him into the house. The inside was dim, a small kitchen area taking up a corner near the entrance, a circular mahogany table sitting by its side. “You and Grace have given us similar looks, after all.”

“Yes, well,” Cynthia said, letting go of Nanu’s hand. The police offer sat down and looked on. Of course, Cynthia had some black coffee nearly ready, the glass pot nearly full. The aromatic smell made Nanu at ease. “I suppose you have something that’s bugging you? I was planning to go out to Alola for another month soon, you know.”

“The two might be related.” Percy cackled and Nanu grinned. Grace glowered at them from the opposite side of the table. “But no, it’s something else. Anabel’s working in Hoenn and filed a report not too long ago.” 

“Oh, I would’ve thought it was that Skull case you were investigating now.” Cynthia walked back to the table with two mugs in hand. Nanu accepted the black mug and sipped on it.

“It was, but I hit a dead end and they’re just doing low level shit now,” Nanu grumbled. Cynthia’s sharp blue eyes observed above black rimmed glasses. “But no, Anabel sent me the report. Some environmental extremists suddenly got reaaaal active in Hoenn.”

Cynthia clicked her tongue. “And Aile told me her grandkids had just started on their adventure, too…” She frowned a bit.

“One of them got roped up into it already. Anabel’s with her, though.” Nanu shook his head. “To be honest, that’s partly why I went to you here.”

“Oh?” Cynthia said, fluttering her eyebrows and putting on a fake pout. “Is it not because I’m your girlfriend?”

Nanu smirked. “No, it’s because Aile would start screaming about shit before I even finished, then fly off and probably ruin the investigation, knowing her.”

Cynthia giggled, holding a hand over her mouth. At this point, Grace had evidently decided that staring down Percy was boring and had plopped down on the old green couch a few yards away. Light Garchomp snores provided background noise. 

Nanu glared down at Percival, a glimmer in the Persian’s eyes. Not when Cynthia’s around, he wanted to say. Of course, pranking a Garchomp seemed like a suicidal idea no matter what.

“Though why do you have her on the force, then?” Cynthia asked, tilting her head. “It’s no secret she has a temper.”

“She shattered Yvetal’s skull with a literal jackhammer made from her mind,” Nanu said, crossing his arms. Looker had recruited her onto the force to investigate Team Flare and Kalos. Undercover as an escort for a group of new trainers, Aile eventually found herself in the thick of another mess. And while Nanu strongly suggested to Looker afterwards that the words “Aile” and “undercover” worked about as well together as “fire” and “ice”, well. Jackhammer. “She’s not the best cop but she can do the basic stuff besides being superhuman.”

“Does “gruesomely murder legendary pokemon” count?” Cynthia asked with a shudder, her mind briefly flashing to Giratina’s demise. “Ugh.” She elected to purge the image with more coffee. Her mind wandered for a moment before her eyes lit up. “Hoenn’s legendaries are tied closer with the climate and weather, correct?”

“Mmm? Yeah.”

“From the sounds of things.” Cynthia set her mug down on an old crocheted mat, dull blue and pink intermingling. She shrugged. “Well, I don’t know. It’s purely theory, but what if they want something with them?”

Nanu hummed.

“You know better than most these sorts of people aren’t logical.” Cynthia coughed. “After all, you and Looker helped with Team Galactic.”

“Hell of a first date in the Distortion World, wasn’t it?” Nanu said. The two laughed before an awkward silence took over. “Still remember that Cyrus guy vividly.” Nanu’s expression turned towards grim malice. “Not sad he’s dead,” he said with an icy glare. His gaze warmed slightly as he drummed his fingers on the table. “Though yeah, Anabel said she’s pretty sure Team Magma’s been drilling into Chimney. And Aqua’s been setting up shop outside of Lilycove, trying to steal submarine parts…”

“Groudon, Kyogre?” Cynthia said. She had more than enough time in retirement to research myths and legends, even outside of Sinnoh. “Wouldn’t explain Rayquaza, though…”

Nanu rubbed his chin. “Point on all three.” He scowled again. “Doesn’t explain why someone would funnel in so much cash for them, though. Given the sheer unlikelihood of pulling it off…”

“And the fact it’s likely they’re radically different than legend suggests,” Cynthia pointed out. She tapped her right foot against the wooden floor. “… how much money are we talking about here?” Certainly the more crazed enthusiasts would be willing to invest in searches for legends, but-

“Millions. Don’t have an exact count but it’s close to nine digits,” Nanu said. Grumbling, he reached into his pocket and procured a box of Numelbaro cigarettes. He barely had time to yank one of the cancer sticks out before Cynthia glared at him. “Fine, fine, no smoking in the house.” He shoved the box back with the pocket lint. 

“Sounds more like a business owner, then…” She hummed and tapped her cheek with a pointer finger. Theories and potential explanations ran through her head for a few moments. Cynthia then sighed and slapped her hands back down on the table. “Of course I can’t think of one who’d _want_ those legends just for cash.”

“What, they’re still Pokemon. You could find out a way to capture em and make money.”

Cynthia shook her head. “No. Lesser ones, certainly, but not these.” God, she didn’t want to think of what could actually control legendaries like Groudon. Cyrus almost succeeded with the Red Chain- poor Dawn, seeing the end result of _those_ monstrous experiments- but, well. Giratina. And then there was that witch who-

“Fair enough,” Nanu shrugged, hands in his pockets. He tossed right leg over left. He grimaced. “Guess I’m at a loss there.”

“Some people don’t make sense,” Cynthia said. She paused to drink. She wiped her lips off with a napkin before continuing. “It’s entirely plausible whoever’s funding them doesn’t care about profit.”

“Might have enough money that they don’t give a damn.” Nanu clicked his tongue and rubbed his finger over his chin. “Or maybe there’s something else we’re missing.”

Cynthia sighed. “That’s usually the case this early, isn’t it?” She crossed her arms and focused on the floor. “Though if we assume the person here isn’t funding these two for the legendaries, what else could it possibly be for?”

“Chaos? A distraction?” Nanu stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “Hell of an expensive distraction, though…” 

Silence took over, the two looking in various directions. Varying degrees of deep thinking were evident on both of their faces. Cynthia was a brilliant woman, to be sure. Nanu was always mildly annoyed he couldn’t convince her to join up with the force. Hell, besides her mind, she had that Garchomp too. And sure it was kind of cute snoozing on the couch now, but he had seen that thing tear a Gyarados in two before. Nanu glanced down at Percy, tail swishing back and forth. _Why you think messing with a Garchomp is a good idea…_

“It sure seems like we’re not getting much of anywhere, hmmm?” Cynthia said. She tilted her head and smiled just a bit. “If nothing else, if things go south Aile would rush on over.”

“Don’t forget Liliana, too,” Nanu grumbled. He reached down and rubbed Percy’s head. “Remember why she’s living in Hoenn? In the redneck part?”

“Nanu, that’s rude. Littleroot is a very cute small town.”

“The Junipers and Birches possess half of the teeth in that entire place, I guarantee it.” Cynthia’s glare suggested he should stop now. “Anyway; the whole deal with Kyruem, how Colress managed to use her abilities to reform the original dragon…”

“Ugh,” Cynthia said. She shook her head. She had been working with Aile and Aurea at the time to build the Pokemon World Tournament and then Aile discovered what had happened and… She shuddered and shook her head. “I do remember that. Essentially, well.”

“- sacrificing her to summon the Original Dragon,” Nanu muttered. He wasn’t there for that one, but Aile had punched him for pushing too hard on the topic. He rubbed the stitches on his left cheek. “Course that backfired and Liliana wasn’t actually dead- who the fuck knows how- but… god. Psychics are fucking strange.”

“Agreed” 

“Can’t blame her for wanting to think she was safe after that. Had kids and all, but then Team Plasma tried to return and get at her again…”

“Could you imagine? Having to leave under cover of night like that with toddlers? How would you explain that to them?” Cynthia’s lips turned to a sharp grimace. 

“You don’t,” Nanu said. “No five year old’s gonna understand “we have to leave because otherwise you might be kidnapped because mommy’s a miracle worker”.”

“Yeah,” Cynthia murmured. Her eyes shifted back and forth as she sipped. Arceus, she had almost forgotten how stressful life had been with evil teams and legendaries. She didn’t miss it much. She set her mug down and crossed her arms before checking the time. “Well, I have that meeting with Lucas now. He just became the head professor, so he wants some advice from me”

“Oh, finally taking over?” Nanu said, raising his mug. “Good for him.” The rest of the coffee, now lukewarm, went into his gut. Caffeine was caffeine he supposed. The chair protested, the scratching of wood on wood grating Nanu’s ears as he pushed out.

“It’s amazing Rowan’s done it for so long, honestly,” Cynthia said. She smiled and stood up. “Professor until he’s 110…” She whistled.

“Healthcare’s a hell of a thing, isn’t it?” Nanu laughed. Most people still retired before that age but if Nanu remembered right the world record for oldest person was 160 and five days. “Even if you’re smoking you can live to 100.”

Nanu cracked a grin from the open doorway, Percy by his side. Cynthia walked up and kissed him on the lips for just a moment. She withdrew, a smile on her lips and hands on her sides.

“Unless it’s in my house,” she said.

“Heh. Fair enough.” His thoughts went through all of the potential relevant files to grab. The richest CEOs in Hoenn (and the world), some stuff focused on Groudon and Kyogre themselves. Right, shit, Anabel probably had files on the leaders here. Maybe Liliana’s file?

Meh, he had a couple of weeks until Cynthia came out to Alola. 

With a wave and a door clicking shut, Nanu vanished from the house.

Cynthia exhaled. She contemplated if she should call Aile about the conversation… no. Cynthia shook her head as she walked to her bedroom door, a light teal. If it was serious enough with Aile’s family she’d know soon enough. She swung the door open and heard a particularly loud (if cute) snore from Grace. 

She smiled at the landshark sprawled out on the couch and couldn’t help but think she was one of the few in the world bold enough to wake up a sleeping Garchomp. She felt its rough gritty scales as she nudged its stomach with a pair of fingers.

“Grace? We need to get ready to go,” she said. The Garchomp growled, barely above an annoyed whisper.

Cynthia threw her hands up and let out an exaggerated sigh before walking away towards her bedroom. “Fine. If you’re going to be a grouch I’m going to make you wear the pink formal ribbon again.” 

Grace’s eyes widened, the Garchomp snapping at Cynthia once or twice. 

Cynthia giggled. “Its Garchomp proof, I made sure of it.”

Grace glowered at Cynthia and crossed her fins. Cynthia waved at her before shutting the door with a click.


	14. The One Where They Go To Slateport

The waves lapped softly against the boat, the breeze gently tossed around the Wingulls and Tentacool in the seas around him. Burris could hear the low bellow of Wailmer occasionally too. He stared out at the scene trailing behind him and yawned. And then he cursed again. In theory, it would’ve been an amazing time to doze off.

In practice, well. The hammock seemed like a comfortable option before he tossed and turned to the point it was a wonder the strings didn’t give out entirely. So he stared out the back of the boat. The Wingulls nearby were squawking at another over food, a pair of swimmers had gotten into an argument after bumping into each other.

And right now, Burris just wanted both of them to shut up. Wally had stuck inside, at the least. 

Burris snorted. It’d be one thing if he could just walk around or god forbid take a _nap_ but neither of those things were an option. So he waited, checking his PokeNav impatiently.

Finally, he heard the call from inside. Slateport beach in 10 minutes. Thank the goddamn lord. 

-

The late afternoon sun hung over the busy beach. Families were set up with their picnics and there was a “treasure” collector or two out and about, scanning the beach alongside their Zigzagoon. Burris sprinted off of the sea salt stained brown dock.

“B-burris, what’s the rush?” Wally asked. Burris glanced back to see visible confusion on Wally’s face. 

“I just… want to get off the boat, ok?” Burris grumbled and rubbed an eye. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“O-oh.” Wally’s confusion stayed steady. He crossed his arms and followed. 

Burris shook his head. “Besides, I think a nice walk on the beach would be fun.” And an ever-futile effort to clear his head. Sure, what Brawly said was part of it, but... Blergh. If only it were that easy. No Brawly, you dope, I’m don’t care about fighting or being a champion, boom, done. Just-

“Yeah, that’s fair!” Wally said. He chuckled and ruffled the back of his hair. “If I didn’t burn like a Snover, anyway.”

“Wouldn’t Paras be more susceptible? Dry Skin and all,” Burris murmured and rubbed his forehead. 

“Um, well, yes,” Wally said. He caught up to Burris at the end of the dock, staring at the ground and clasping his hands at his waist. “O-oh, right! I have family in the area, in Verdenturf.” Wally explained.

He took a couple of steps onto the beach. The way Wally glared at the coarse sand… honestly it was kind of impressive he could muster that for anything, let alone an inanimate object.

“Oh, you mentioned that,” Burris explained, following by his side. His gut told him Wally was trying to go somewhere with this. His gut snarled.

“W-we could head there right away,” Wally suggested, looking away and giggling a bit. 

Burris tried to hide his frown. Right now he mostly just wanted to walk around town. Partially because Slateport was cool, partly because he was really hoping for something to clear his head. 

“Well, I kinda want to walk around Slateport for a day or two,” Burris said. The two stopped just short of the steps heading into Slateport proper, allowing a Zigzagoon to run past. A little boy with an inner tube followed, kicking up a bit of sand on Burris’ legs.

“Oh, right…” Wally pressed his pointer fingers together and sighed. “I mean, are you sure?”

Burris’ eyes narrowed. “I literally got a badge so I could get here a couple of days faster.” His hands were shoved into his pockets. “So yes. I am.” 

Wally slouched over. “Right. Um.” 

“If you really want to, just go on ahead right now,” Burris said. Wally gripped his hands behind his back, spinning a right heel in the sand. “I’ll catch up to you in a day or two when I’m done here and we can go north from Mauville after that.”

Wally looked away, eyes drooped. “Ok. Fine. I’ll just… go on ahead, then.” He took a few steps back, giving Burris an “are you sure” look with borderline puppy dog eyes and-

Burris paused as he realized his hands were balled up into fists in his pockets. He loosened them, heart deciding to skip a beat then and there for maximum effect. 

“L-look, it’s only a day or two right? We don’t have to be together all the time.”

“Sure,” Wally said. He shook his head and turned away. He managed to give a weak wave before vanishing into the crowds of Slateport.

“God dammit.” Burris buried his face in his hands. 

 

He made his way straight to the PokeCenter and thank god there was still a room. He plopped down in his bed, springs creaking loudly even by PokeCenter bed standards. You’d think a city like Slateport would have more money for these things. You’d be wrong. He turned around on the borderline coarse bedding and stared outside his window.

The sun was a bright orange orb in the sky, bottom dipping just below the horizon. Burris could make out the ant-sized people packing up their umbrellas, heading back into the city after a long nice relaxing day of tanning. Burris felt more than a twinge of jealousy. But he moved on. Sort of. Not really.

His head hit the pillow the same moment he realized he hadn’t showered today. Whatever. It wasn’t his job to clean this anyway. 

He knew it was too late to really take in the tourist attractions at this point. Well there was always the east side docks. The ones out towards Paciflidog. You could supposedly even make out the Sky Tower and a bit of the little floating town nearby. Even at night on a clear night, and given a storm had just cleared out a little while ago…

A pleasant breeze massaged Burris’ face as he left the PokeCenter. The sun had almost completely dipped below the horizon, the streets now filled with tourists and locals dressed for the night life and bars. 

_Nope. Absolutely not._ Burris shook his head. He wasn’t sure what he disliked more at this point; the prospect of getting drunk off of three dollars of booze or the prospect of being accosted by drunk strangers…

… of course at this particular moment, his stomach rumbled. Shit. Right. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast this morning. Mercifully for him, what appeared to be a general restaurant establishment could be seen, a plain red brick building with a “McMiltanks” sign. Burris’ mind wandered to some historical documentary talking about when Pokemon were once used in various food products. The debate had raged back and forth for decades, and truth be told never got solved.

Because someone- Burris was spacing on the name- managed to create such convincing alternatives that it basically made using Pokemon in food worthless. A few of the bigger corporations’ lobbyists tried to block the alternatives from being widespread, but within a decade of it being introduced using actual Pokemon in food products was banned.

Which was a really good thing, because Burris was starving and he didn’t really want to have a moral quandary over something as simple as eating a burger. Grease assailed his nostrils as he entered, he ordered his food, and sat down. Simple burger and fries, nothing more and nothing less. He plopped down with his brown bag of grossly unhealthy food in front of one of the few TVs.

It was the news, but whatever. “The remnants of Hurricane Maria have mostly dispersed, but not before giving Mauville and Verdenturf needed rain,” the forecaster said. Burris tossed his white box of fries and his hamburger down in front of him and went searching for more fries at the bottom of his bag. 

“Thank you for the forecast, Shauna!” A different lady spoke up. “Of course now we have news from Lavaridge Town, where controversy has struck over the gym leader situation.”

Burris peaked up, one cheek loaded with potatoes and ketchup. 

“With Marquise Hartman passed a couple of months back, his daughter has recently taken over gym duties. However, she’s still not fully trained to be a proper Gym Leader.”

The TV switched from the short brunette newscaster, baby blue vest complimenting the navy blue news desk, to Wallace. Burris had seen that formal white suit hundreds of times, and while Wallace looked absolutely fabulous he found himself criticized for not switching it up every once in a while.

Burris took a bite of burger. Wallace didn’t _need_ too, he was the one older man Burris would seriously consider attractive. _Not that I’d ever admit that to anyone._ He didn’t need his dad letting it slip to Wallace. 

“While we understand people’s concerns over Flannery, she has been going through her Gym Leader certification as fast as possible,” Wallace explained to a roving horde of microphones and cameras assaulting him with flashes of light. “It is not a perfect situation, but we simply lack other alternatives and-“

“Mr. Wallace, do you know when she’ll be fully trained?”

“End of summer, September at the latest,” Wallace said.

“Why couldn’t you find a trained replacement?” another man asked. “Aren’t there any other potential trainers who could take over?”

“None. With losing two gym leaders and a champion in a few years, we have no other options.”

Burris quirked an eyebrow. Champions were essentially automatically qualified to be Gym Leaders, right? Mom had mentioned getting training back in Unova before they left…

“Are you sure?” the man asked.

“We had someone move here after Wattson passed, and I had to convince Juan to come back to fill my seat when I replaced Steven.” Wallace seemed tense, not unlike the one time he had reprimanded Dad for getting into a drunk argument with Juan over politics. “If you have any other suggestions, I would love to hear them.”

Burris sipped the last of his drink through his straw obnoxiously, the camera moving back to some roundtable discussion in some news studio and- He tuned it out at that point. It was always so weird seeing them talk about Dad and his co-workers like that. Half of them were very clearly talking out their ass, like the time Burris found some trashy newsstand magazine talking about “Eli’s INSIDIOUS Affair with Phoebe”.

“Yes, let’s try cheating on a psychic, that always works,” Burris muttered, chewing over the last bit of burger. It felt weird commenting on someone theorizing about Dad cheating on Mom so casually but it was so hilariously untrue that Burris didn’t care. He grabbed for his PokeNav and tapped and swiped away. Yes Dad I won the gym battle, hi Mom I’m in Slateport and Birch wants to research what with the Wurmple line and oh look there’s posts on Chirper and-

Burris blinked, glancing up from the black/orange/gray color of the Starly-inspired social media app to look at the time. It was already goddamn 11 pm? Time flew when you realized you had the power of the internet. His phone buzzed again; Wally.

<11:02 pm> Hi, I’m in Verdenturf.   
<11:02 pm> Text me when you get to Mauville.

Burris exhaled sharply through his nose. 

<11:03 pm> ill be there in a day or so ok

And turned and walked out the door. The night air bordered on freezing, at least by Hoenn summer standards. Someone from Sinnoh or Unova would laugh at Hoenn residents for being wimps about the cold. Though, as Burris liked to point out, maybe people from Sinnoh should know better than to live in Articuno’s asshole. Burris rolled his eyes at the sound of raucous music and dancing at a bar nearby, one definitively designed for partying and less for sports.

He was pretty sure he heard someone _puke_ amid all the chaos and decided to quicken his pace with a shudder. He soon left the sounds of bars and people and reached the main port of the city. 

Burris stared up at the light blue building, a lighthouse on top of it rotating around. He remembered reading that other regions liked to use Ampharos for their lighthouses. Weird. Burris was pretty sure Hoenn’s lighthouses were machine-operated, at the least. He turned his attention to the ocean waves, lapping up against the end of the cobblestone path. Wooden docks stretched out before them, an assortment of rich yachts bobbing up and down.

“Makes Dewford’s dock look like a recycling bin,” Burris mumbled. He squinted and peered into the distance, attempting to make out Paciflidog Town and the Sky Tower. He clicked his tongue. No dice on the floating town, but he could make out the ancient tower, looming in the distance. It seemed to pierce the heavens above, fitting since the legends said Rayquaza used to roost there.

Of course, no one knew what Rayquaza was up to now. Or if he was even real. Burris leaned towards the latter a bit. He inhaled the crisp night air once more and scanned around. Not another soul in sight, though he’d have to cross through the bar district to get back to the PokeCenter probably.

“Wonderful,” he mumbled. More ridiculously loud music and there goes some poor dumbass puking outside. At least he had a friend to help him in. A pair of oddly dressed folks walked towards him, talking about some job they just quit.

Frankly, Burris noted, they kinda looked like pirates. One was damn near falling over, bandanna on his head loosely hanging and blue and white striped shirt stained with sweat.

“L-look man, screw that fucking girl, a-alright?” the drunk one said, pointing a finger at his companion. “Fuckin Archie. ‘You got your ass kicked by some girl blah blah urggghh’.” The man stumbled violently, knocking Burris off of the path and onto the grass.

“Whoa whoa, easy there buddy,” the other one said, steadying his drunk friend. 

“H-hey, you!” the drunk one said. He jabbed a finger at Burris. “T-the fuck is yer problem, running into m-me like that?”

Burris glared and dusted himself off. “My problem? You stumbled into me!” he protested. A few bystanders looked for a moment before continuing on.

“Hey, look, we’re not lookin’ for any trouble,” the sober man said, waving his two hands in front of the stubble on his face. “Fell on some tough times ‘cause of some bad folks.”

“H-hey, speak for ‘urself!” the inebriated one pointed at Burris, grabbing for a pair of red and white capsules. “Y-you look like that _bitch_ that m-made me leave!”

“Yeah well, I’m not.” Burris threw his hands up and slapped them down on his sides. His fingers wrapped around his first two Poke Balls. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“Yeah well!” The man stumbled and spun around, tossing a Carvanha and a Zubat down onto the ground. The two floated around warily. “SORRY DON’T CUT IT, BRAT!”

“Alex! Shut the fuck up and recall your goddamn pokemon!” the sober one hissed. He covered his eyes at two more flashes of light, forming into Jorge and Stuart. He groaned and slapped his forehead. “You absolute moron.”

“Fine, you really want to fight that badly?” Burris snapped. “Double Kick, Confusion!”

“F- Aqua Jet, uh… Astonisssssssssh.” Alex ordered. The Zubat gave an uncertain glance before attempting to fly around Stuart. The Dustox’ yellow eyes buried into his fellow poison type. Outlined in purple, the Zubat found itself corkscrewing down to the ground.

The Carvanha hissed and doubled back for a moment, water surrounding itself before it spun around and charged towards Jorge. Legs glowing, Jorge leaped up into the air, foot diving down at the water type’s forehead…

… but found himself hitting the ground, stone cracking against the force of his feet.

Moments later, Jorge’s arms and legs flailed about from the raw force of the speedy blow, causing him to tumble to the ground in front of Burris. Steam floated upwards from his body, a nasty deep red bruise forming on his upper left chest.

“Yeah, take that you bitch!” Alex said. A small crowd had gathered, a mix of drinkers and other bystanders watching the fight unfold in the middle of the street. A few were even taking bets. “Aqua Jet again! And goddamnit Snipes, g-get your-“

Alex turned to the grass. The group gasped and one woman shrieked, “Ew, nasty!”

“If I had known this would be my first night outta Aqua,” the sober one growled.

Holding Madison’s Poke Ball in one hand, Burris returned Jorge with his left hand. Jorge was… he was ok. But goddammit this was so _stupid_ why did he stick around? And of _course_ he was pissed at Sienna and-

Madison dropped to the ground in front of Burris, staring down the charging Carvanha and growling. Stuart was now making Snipes float through the air like a roller coaster with a combination of Confusion and Gust, giggling all the while.

“Madison, Rock Smash!” The order was given not a moment too soon; Madison propped herself up on her back paws, front appendages glowing. With a bark, she slammed down on top of it, the Carvanha howling in pain as its impact caused the cobblestone to crack. The rough flippers of the Carvanha slapped Madison in the face, leaving a raw red mark. “Bite, throw it away!”

Madison whimpered for a brief moment, her paws not unlike her right cheek now. Still, with a surprisingly vicious snarl, she dug her sharp fangs into the Carvanha’s hide and wiggled it around. The Carvanha’s eyes began to roll from the speed… and then Madison let go.

Burris yelped as the Carvanha’s left fin left a deep red mark on his cheek, a slight bit of blood trickling down from it. The unconscious body of the fish flopped to the ground a few feet in front of the assembled crowd; the Zubat collapsed down to the ground exhausted.

“G-guh,” Alex groaned, rubbing vomit off of his lips. “You fucking- the hell is going on?”

“What do you- oh.” The crowd gasped. Madison’s eyes widened and her body began to glow. The immediate area was as bright as day for a few brilliant moments before Madison stopped growing. Most of her fur was light gray with parts of it still black, including running down her back, but…

“… you’re probably taller than I am standing on your back legs,” Burris said. He grimaced, the cut sending him a helpful reminder of both his pain and Jorge’s condition. He spared one glance towards the retreating grunts before Stuart chirped at him. 

He sighed. “This fucking day.”

-

The trip to the PokeCenter mercifully did not take long. Jorge had suffered some cracked ribs and his internal heat was a little off, but he’d be fine after an overnight stay in the infirmary. Burris shifted in his bed, head drowning in thoughts again. That battle was so pointless he felt a void in the universe opening up from the sheer thought of it existing, but…

“Terri should’ve taken on that Carvanha. And Robby the Zubat.” Thankfully that drunk asshole forgot his Zubat knew Wing Attack or was such a bad trainer it didn’t have it. It could’ve been much worse than Jorge being hospitalized overnight.

Burris mouthed a “fuck”. His mind went elsewhere. “Wally shouldn’t have been so friggin pushy on the Verdenturf deal.” He’d be there in a day or so, so what if he was behind Wally? There was nothing wrong with him going ahead to visit his family. Yet Burris eyed the “2 missed texts” block on his screen, Wally’s name on top of them. Tapping the notification and of course. “Tell me when you get here” and “Please”.

Burris stared emptily at the ceiling, his mind wrestling over his thoughts and bouncing back and forth like it was being played with children in a bouncy castle.

“And I wish I could sleep right now.”


	15. Patternism

The night came and went and the sun slowly peeked around the clouds. Burris groaned and turned away from the light smashing through his windows. He blinked once, twice, feeling the bags beneath his eyes.

Another annoyed grunt and Burris rolled onto his back. The thoughts that plagued him the night before came back in force. He wasn’t sure how much sleep he had gotten, but he knew it wasn’t enough. His mind swam through that fight with that drunk jackass, Wally, Jorge…

He tossed his sheet off and grabbed a shirt. “Fuck this.”

In minutes, he had Jorge’s Poke Ball back safely on his belt--his filled pack weighing on his shoulders--and was out the front door. His steps were slow, he rubbed a tired eye and yawned. 

And so he walked. The gate heading out of Slateport was a simple arch painted a light blue. Route 110 stretched out before him, the natural route snaking around below Cycling Road. A few bikers could be seen even from this distance. The air felt cool and fresh, a contrast from the afternoon heat and humidity to come.

Burris stopped in the middle of the road, short of a tall field of grass. Nestled in by fences, Burris could spy a few Zigzagoon scavenging about and even an Oddish disguised alongside the lower weeds. Still, he didn’t stop here for the grass.

With a toss, Jorge appeared in front of him. The Combusken’s upper right chest still held a deep red bruise, but he greeted Burris with an energetic chirp.

“Sorry about last night,” Burris grumbled. He ran his hand through his spiked hair. “You ok?”

Jorge nodded before replying with a dismissive chirp. Then he pointed at Burris’ face with a talon. Tape held white gauze in place over an unseen scratch. 

“Me?” Burris pointed at himself. 

Jorge clicked his beak. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine Jorge.” Burris waved off the concerns

The Combusken crossed his arms but the two moved along in relative silence. The small seaside trail held no trainers this time of day. A layer of fog rested on top of the water, dissolving bit by bit in the rising sunlight Jorge kept a few yards ahead of Burris, though stopped to chirp at him on occasion.

“Look, I didn’t sleep well, alright?” Burris said. They walked past a cottage painted a hideously deep shade of blue with white paneling and red roofing. It seemed more at home in a toy town than in the real world. Jorge stopped at the sound of someone cursing their work deep within.

The pause was enough to let the sloth-like Burris catch up, and so they went on. The road above them blotted out the sun for a stretch past the house, the faint sounds of bicycle wheels passing every so often. It mixed poorly with the natural sounds of rustling grass and lapping waters down below. A few wild Zigzagoon poked their heads above the grass, brown eyes following. When neither Burris nor Combusken made any moves, they retreated to their hiding spot.

After rounding a corner, a click of Jorge’s beak caught Burris’ attention. 

“Mmh?” Burris said. The Combusken pointed at a Plusle and Minun running around a girl barely taller than Burris, her hair now longer and tied up in a ponytail.

“Burris?” Sienna said. The two mice stopped, the Minun clambering up her left jean leg while the Plusle jumped onto her shoulder, covered by a loose gray sleeve. “I didn’t expect to see you around here already.” She crossed her light tan arms and looked him up and down.

“Uh, yeah,” Burris said. He yawned again. “Just um, got into Slateport last night.”

“And you’re already heading to Mauville? Or just exploring around here?” Sienna leaned on her left leg.

“Uh, Mauville I guess.” Burris’ hands slipped into his pockets. “I… thought Slateport would be better.”

Sienna frowned and clasped her hands behind her back. “I see.” She pursed her lips. 

“Is something wrong?” Burris asked.

“Well--“ Sienna started. A buzz interrupted the conversation.

<7:05 am> Do you know what time you’re getting to Verdenturf?

Burris typed a firm “No” in response to Wally and shoved his phone into his pocket. 

Sienna coughed. “I guess I’m just… a little surprised.” She gestured at Burris. “At, um, all of this.”

Burris’ eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you say something to the effect of not wanting to drag me around?”

“Well.” Sienna shrugged. “Yes, but… you look like you haven’t slept.” She sighed and looked away for a moment.

“I’ve just had a bad night or two,” Burris grumbled. “That’s it.”

“If you say so.” Sienna definitely got that unconvinced tone from Dad. “But--“

<7:07 am> Can you give me an estimate?

Burris held up a finger to Sienna as his thumb slammed against the screen.

<7:07 am> eventually

“Go on?” Burris said. At this point the Plusle and Minun exchanged glances. Burris could feel Jorge orange eyes burrow into him.

“Well.” Sienna pointed at Burris’ gauze then down at Jorge’s bruise. “For starters, those both look pretty fresh.”

“Both of-- the gauze?” Burris stretched his arms outwards, leaning back a bit. “So? It was a little scuffle, nothing more.”

Jorge shut his eyes, chirped, and rolled his shoulders around. 

“I’d be less worried if it was just the bruised Combusken, Burris,” Sienna said. “I’ve been dealing with other trainers who really aren’t afraid to--“

“Madison made a mistake and accidentally threw some guy’s Carvanha at my face, ok?” A few Wingull vacated the area at the sound of Burris’ raised voice.

Sienna snorted. Burris could tell she was worried; the way she looked away, the fact she mouthed a “goddammit Burris”. And when she got like this there was zero convincing her barring something--

“Fine.” She glanced at the Plusle on her right shoulder, then back to Burris. “I’ll drop it, on one condition.”

\--drastic.

“Which is?”

“I want you to take Axel with you,” Sienna said. The Plusle perked up. “I told him I wouldn’t leave him with some random stranger or anything, and if I’m going to be looking after Cinnamon--“ The Minun squeaked before nuzzling Sienna’s cheek. “-- then I want Axel looking after you for me.”

“But I already have a full team, Sienna!” Burris protested. 

“Burris.” God, she was so much like dad. “Birch can take care of them. Who do you have?”

Burris fell quiet for a moment. Then snorted. “Robby, Madison my Mightyena, Stuart my Dustox, Jorg--“

“Dustox? Birch has wanted to do more research with one,” she said. Sienna rubbed her left arm and sighed. “Look, it’s not easy to deposit someone but- I can’t leave you alone looking like this, but we’re--“

“Fine, fine,” Burris said. He slouched over before Stuart formed in front of him. The Dustox buzzed around in a few small circles before stopping. His eyes locked onto Burris’ face, his wings slowed. “Stuart, I’m sorry, but I’m going to need to leave you with Birch for a bit.”

Stuart’s wings drooped a bit. “Look, Sienna’s demanding I take her Plusle with me and--“ Burris sighed. “Just. Sorry. Birch will take good care of you, and I’ll visit, promise.”

Stuart looked around for a moment before buzzing one last time. In a red wavy line, he vanished. Burris brought out his PokeNav, ignored the missed messages notification, and went to the PC application. He couldn’t withdraw and move Pokemon around as he pleased, but he could deposit them. It was a new innovation from Alola if the news was right. 

A quick typed message to Birch, a tap of a Poke Ball, and Stuart was off to the lab. Burris stared down at the screen for a few moments before a Premier Ball crept into his vision. He grabbed it in an elongated, clumsy motion and clicked it onto his belt

Moments later he felt latent static electricity and small limbs grabbing the back of his shirt. Before long Axel had taken residence on Burris’ left shoulder.

“Hey there,” Burris said, his voice almost being swept away by the quiet wind. Axel chirped and waved, before doing the same to Sienna and Cinnamon. 

“Look, Burris.” Sienna rubbed her arms as a particularly chilly morning wind struck. “Just--“

<7:11 am> It’d be a quicker trip if you rented a bike

“-- throw my PokeNav into a lake?” Burris asked.

“If you want to pay for a new one.” Sienna shrugged. “Who is even bothering you?”

Burris had a step or two past Sienna. “No one.”

“Weird name.”

“Dad humor isn’t helping.”

“That’s not--“ Sienna flailed her hands in front of her. “N-nevermind. Look, Burris, just.” That blade of grass looked rather dew-y. “If you need someone, don’t hesitate to call me, ok?”

Burris tried to read what his sister was saying. Briney had mentioned her saving his Wingull; maybe she had been getting involved against some nasty folks. Arceus knows that was a borderline family tradition. A yawn broke him out of his stupor and Sienna’s lips curled down just a bit more.

“Yeah, sure, I will,” Burris said.

“Ok,” Sienna said. “See you around?”

“Sure,” Burris replied. He watched and waved as Sienna and Cinnamon walked off south, a few Oddish scurrying away in their wake. He glanced at Axel on his shoulder, then down at Jorge with his arms crossed and a questioning look on his face. 

“What?” Burris asked. Jorge shrugged and walked ahead once more. Burris groaned and tossed up his hands. “What the hell has gotten into everyone in my life?” 

The small group enjoyed the quiet cool air. At first Burris felt the latent static off of the Plusle, but he soon got used to it. 

He managed a little smile after Axel brushed his cheek with Burris’ own. A few loose hairs stood up alongside Burris’ spiked hair. Rubbing a finger under Axel’s chin, Burris could make out the front gate of Mauville off in the distance. Finally, they were--

<11:01 am> Are you ok?

Burris resisted the urge to chuck the PokeNav at a pair of squawking Wingull. “Sienna wasn’t too bossy for you, was she?”

Axel held up a paw in thought then squeaked. “Sometimes? Yeah she gets a little--“ Another buzz from his PokeNav. “--intense.” Another buzz, and Burris glanced down at the screen. Two missed messages from Wally. “Arceus goddamn…” Burris held his face in his hands and groaned.

Axel patted Burris on his cheek, before something almost sparkled in the grass. In a flash, he sped by trainer and Combusken and sprinted back to a stop in front of Jorge. Axel presented a blue and white battery. After a few moments of observation, Jorge noticed an odd piece of looped wire sticking out of one end. He slipped it onto his neck.

“Oh, you found something Axel?” Burris asked, bending down for a better look. “Oh! I remember Dad has a few of these. A Cell Battery, right?” He hummed, head resting on his hand. “I think the next gym is Electric.” Right. The gym. Amazingly enough, it seemed like the best option right now. “Though I don’t have any ground types.” 

Jorge’s eyes glimmered. He chirped and jabbed a thumb back at himself. “Yeah, Jorge, I think I’ll be relying on you here…”

-

Burris had heard Mauville had been totally renovated about a decade ago, but goddamn.

The halls around him reverberated with the footsteps and chatter from passerby. Burris could make out several offices nearby, ranging from lawyers to others odds and ends services. A large rack of rentable bikes stationed just outside of the entrance into the city, likely for those wanting to ride around Route 110 for the day.

Office workers and pedestrians hustled back and forth. The smell of cooking food wafted through the air, however, Burris’ stomach was not swayed. Though judging by the looks he got from Axel and Jorge, they were hungry.

“Look, we’ll sign up for a gym battle first, alright?” Burris said. While his team didn’t have any ground types, Robby was the only one vulnerable to electricity. The crew dipped and dove out of the way of busy commuters, finding themselves in the large courtyard in the middle of it all. An impressive white tower-like statue sat dead center.

If Burris had paid attention in geography, he would’ve figured out that it was modeled after Prism Tower. But he didn’t and with newfound energy in his step charged past it. He slipped between the PokeCenter and Mart back into the outer ring of the city. Out of the corner of his eye he spied a small lunch crowd outside of the TV station; it occurred to him that this might’ve been the channel he had been watching last night.

The gym sat a block or so away. While structurally it was similar to the others, the yellow paint on the roof glittered.

“Huh,” Burris murmured. “Didn’t know the new gym leader had such a sense of glamor.” The sliding glass doors stretched open for him. A long gunmetal gray walkway sat before him, arching up at an angle through the darkness towards an unseen battlefield. A few electrical gates sat on the sides of it, red and blue electricity dancing between the posts.

The gym desk’s sharp black finish blended in with the walls. A younger man with a blue vest and black dress pants looked up at the sound of footsteps.

“Hi, I’m here for a gym battle?” The man scanned him up and down for a moment with curious brown eyes. “Uh.” Burris handed him photo ID, bright grinning mug hardly a match to the real Burris now.

“One moment,” the man said. He tapped a pen on the desk. “Burris… Juniper?”

Burris nodded.

The man skimmed the few blank spots on the schedule, looking up at Burris, then back down at the deep black desktop computer. 

He scribbled down a note. “I’m sorry, we’re full up today. Still in the middle of adjusting a few things in the gym.”

Burris tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, slipping the smart device back into his pocket. “Uh… aren’t there usually signs for that?” He crossed his arms and glared a little.

“Oh, we haven’t gotten a chance to put one out, sorry,” he replied, eyes darting back and forth a bit.

Burris’ eyes narrowed. “Fine.” He stalked off with a growl. Axel squeaked in confusion, palm against his tiny mouth. Jorge looked at the man for a moment, then followed his slouched over trainer out of the gym. 

The desk attendant shook his head when the door closed. He grabbed his deep black PokeNav and placed it to his ear.

“Miss Elesa?” he said. “The other Juniper is here, but.” He sighed as he got the predicted response. “Well…”

-

A half an hour later and the lunch rush had dispersed. Burris sat with his teammates over an empty tray. Axel had wrapped up tinfoil into a tiny ball and batted it around the table. Burris could hear Robby and Jorge having a heated discussion over something or another. 

Madison and Jonesy exchanged worried glances, while Terri observed the brewing argument between the starters. She had her arms crossed, but looked up at Burris occasionally as if to ask him what was going on.

 _I really don’t have time to--_ Another buzz, another missed text from Wally. Burris stifled a groan and threw his head back over his chair _\--deal with their shit._ He rubbed his hands over his tired eyes. They had been mostly cooperating since evolving, if competitive. And yet…

Burris leaped out of his chair as a balled up bit of tinfoil popped him in the nose. The offending piece of trash dropped to the floor. Axel placed his paws on his hips, back straight as a ruler.

Burris chuckled and ran his hand through the short fur between Axel’s ears. “I see what you did there.” Axel perked up and chirped before running up Burris’ arm. “Ha, Axel that…” Burris’ laughter trailed off. “That tickled.” 

A snort caught Burris’ attention. Jonesy stretched his legs out. His back rubbed against Madison’s side, a few of his ribbons wrapped loosely around the Mightyena’s fur. Burris reached down to pet--

Buzz. Burris recoiled. The plastic chair screeched against the tile floor. Another glance down at the phone. Another unread text added to the pile

Burris pressed his hands onto his face. Truth be told, he couldn’t think of anything to do. The novelty of the mostly indoor city had worn out already. A critical eye could look at this place and see a glorified Rustboro.

Buzz. Burris rolled his eyes. He didn’t like it, but Verdenturf might be the only option. He pushed out, putting a pause to the bickering and napping. Burris stretched out his arms over his head. “Fuck it,” he muttered, frowning. “I guess I’ve been procrastinating enough.” 

If nothing else, he could tell Wally to sod off with being so pushy in person. His team trailed behind him out west, the arguing Jorge and Robby at the very back. 

“Is your argument that dramatic you need to flail your arms at each other?”

Both replied with an emphatic “yes”. Burris looked to Axel on his shoulder, then down to Terri waddling by his side. The Lombre’s gaze focused on Burris. 

“What is their problem?”

Terri thought for a moment, an interesting looking plastic bag catching her attention, then shrugged.


	16. Reassessment

Fresh grass and aromatic flowers lined the natural trail between Mauville and Verdenturf. The gentle lapping of the ponds scattered about the route coupled with a light breeze gave the area a wonderful calming aura. A pair of bikers whizzed past an old man looking out from the fenced in day care center, a baby Marill and Buneary arguing over a plush Magikarp toy inside.

Burris slouched over posture seemed like an anomaly. At least the argument between Robby and Jorge had stopped. Though Burris knew they’d be angry at him later for forcing them back to their pokeballs. Jonesy and Madison roamed around the route. They sent a Roselia scurrying to the tall grass with a series of ferocious barks and aggressive maneuvers.

Terri dipped into a nearby pond for a bit of a swim, head floating above water so Axel could remain on her lily pad. Burris smiled for the briefest of seconds before his PokeNav went off once more.

He ignored it. The small crew walked past a pair of breeders, overseeing a small army of pokemon. He wasn’t really sure what he was going to say to Wally,, though “please stop badgering me” would be a good start.

“Hate it when people get pushy,” he grumbled. Madison rubbed her head against his pants leg. He chuckled and bent down to rub her soft black pelt of fur. “Well, besides you.” Madison barked, showing off just how sharp her fangs had gotten. Jonesy nudged Burris’ left side, left ear covering his face.

“Your ears are just gonna be floppy forever, huh.” Burris’ smirk came back for a moment. Water rolled off of Terri’s slimy skin when she returned to the main group, Axel lying on his belly and staring ahead. White fences greeted them on both sides, as good as an actual “Welcome to Verdenturf” sign. 

It wasn’t much larger than Littleroot, all things considered. The Contest Hall sat at the opposite end of the town, just beyond the entrance to Rusturf Tunnel. Which now had a sign attached to it confirming that it was open to travelers once more. A few blades of grass tickled his exposed shins as he got close to the sign.

“As of… three days ago?” Burris hand slid down his face, black marks under his eyes extending for a moment. “Ugggggggggh.” He kicked a convenient pebble at the sign with a metallic clink. “I should’ve just stayed in Rustboro,” he grumbled and looked around. A PokeCenter and a PokeMart sat by the cave entrance, but the neighborhood seemed to be on the other side of town.

He brought out his PokeNav and tapped the “Notes” icon. Even amid being bombed to hell and back by texts, he had the sense to save Wally’s address. A quick copy and paste, and… about ten minutes walking, according to the map.

“Well, here goes something.”

The houses were all very similar. Yellow paneling, green roofs, small flower gardens in their front yards. A few had swing sets even, and there were children playing around on the rickety wooden things. 

Burris had, wisely, returned his team to his belt. He loved Madison, but there was zero doubt she’d wander off and badger the children for affection. And given she was no longer tiny and looked menacing if you didn’t know her, well. Yeah. “I don’t need kids screaming away in terror because of Madison.” He shook his head. “Of all things.” 

If Burris had to guess, it took him a minute or so less to get to Wally’s relative’s house than the app had suggested.

Shrugging, he knocked on the door. The wooden door flung open, revealing a woman wearing a light green shirt with a pair of jeans. Grass and food stains painted her clothes and she looked down at Burris with warm blue eyes.

“Oh, hello there!” she said.

“Uh, hi,” Burris said. His hands were clasped behind his back. “Are you Wally’s relative?”

“Yup! I’m Maurine, his aunt! It’s nice to meet you!”

“Right, I’m Burris.” If he wasn’t so busy staring at the swaying grass he would’ve noticed Maurine’s eyes light up. “Anyway-“

“Oh!” She clapped her hands together. “Wally’s told us all about you!”

“Great. Any _way_ -“

“It’s nice to meet his boyfriend!”

Burris’ heart stopped. He stiffened up with a shudder and snapped his head around. The color had partially drained from his cheeks because what the _fuck_ , Wally. He looked away and faked a cough into a fist, then another. He inhaled, then exhaled. 

Maurine’s face shined with intense confusion. It took willpower Burris wasn’t sure he had to not snap at her. Arceus knows she wasn’t the one that deserved it right this instant.

“Right. Can you tell me where Wally _is_ , by chance?” Burris asked, voice cracking and ruining any hope of sounding remotely neutral.

“Oh he- he went off to Mauville to challenge the gym leader there,” Maurice said. She tilted her head. “… is there anything I can do for you?” she asked.

“No,” Burris said. He managed to force a smile. “But thank you.”

-

_A few years ago…_

_Aile flipped a pencil up and down at her desk. Another boring day at the Unova office. It had been ages since anything serious happened here, and while it was nice because “serious” in this context meant “roping in family and treating them like shit”… it was still boring._

_A notification popped up. Blue and white, it covered her wristwatch-like Xtransceiver’s screen. She tapped a green button, answering the call from Liliana._

_“Hey Mom.” It was a quiet, tired introduction._

_Aile glanced at her clock. 11:39 AM here, which meant it was… Arceus._

_“Hi sweetie,” Aile replied. “What are you doing? It’s nearly 3 AM there.”_

_A long sigh followed. “So.” Liliana inhaled, then exhaled. Aile spun her pencil through her fingers, eyes narrowed. “Well.”_

_“… did something happen?”_

_Another sharper exhale, bordering on a whine and a cry. “It’s Burris.” Aile froze “We took him to the hospital.”_

_Aile hunched over her desk. “What?” she said in a mix of a hiss and a whisper. “Lil’ what the fuck happened?”_

-

Stomping back onto Route 117, the paleness in Burris’ cheeks had been taken over by red boiling rage. His hands were balled up into fists, his teeth clenched. He earned himself confused looks from the bikers riding on the path, the breeders wisely decided to focus on their own pokemon, and the man at the daycare had elected to distract himself by breaking up a fight between Marill and Buneary. Burris had no idea how long it took for him to get back to Mauville’s gate, but the sun dipped low in the afternoon sky.

His footsteps echoed off of the tile floor, an abrupt transition from nature to whatever the hell Wattson had decided to call a utopia.

It was all stupid. The fake streets, the barely existing courtyard, half the goddamn shops were closed and one even had a sad old man sitting in front of it with some stupid dolls. Burris knew he was getting looks now, he didn’t give a shit. What the hell did they know? About any of this? They had no room to judge him here!

Finally, he rounded the corner to the gym. His mind flashed back to the attendant at the front, the one that denied him entry for no reason. Why? Was it because Burris had barely slept? Or was it just him being a prick?

When the doors slid open and Wally stepped out, he shunted everything else to the back of his mind. The raging fire in his gut roared and it reminded Burris that, yes, he was his father’s son.

“Oh, Burris,” Wally said, his glimmering blue eyes shifting from excitement to worry. Burris stopped a few feet short, arms crossed and body trembling. “Is everything ok?”

Burris bit his lip and looked away. He started to say something, then stopped. Then opened his mouth again and then-

“What the FUCK, Wally?”

Wally flinched backwards. “W-what?” he said with genuine confusion.

“Boyfriend!?” Burris damn near hissed. Wally’s gaze widened. “The pushy texts weren’t enough for you?”

Silence set in for a moment, Wally’s lips pursed and honest to god Burris thought the guy was going to cry.

“That’s not how it fucking works!” Burris said. “I like you, honest to god, but-“

“I-I thought-“ Wally swallowed. Burris threw his hands up and looked away. “I thought we were, Burris.”

“We’re FRIENDS. F-R-I-E-N-D-S,” Burris said, voice wavering as he spelled out the term. “Look, you don’t know anything about what being a boyfriend entails, you can’t just go off and PRETEND that without telling-“

“Pretend!?” Wally spat back. Burris blinked. “Then what was all of this!?” Wally gestured with an outstretched left hand. “Everything from Rustboro to Dewford to here was PRETEND!?”

Wally was shouting, holy shit, but he had to understand why- “Pretend? Wally, no, that’s not-“

“Then what was it, then?” Wally said. His hands slammed down on his hips. “Were you just leading me on?”

“N-no,” Burris said quietly, his anger retreating and being replaced by anxiety and- “Wally, you need to understand-“

“Understand what?” Wally crossed his arms. “I understood I liked you and I know you liked me!”

“Past tense!?” Burris snapped. “I’m mad at you, but we need to AGREE on being a couple!” He flailed his arms in front of him, his mind desperately digging for something, anything to try and get Wally to understand why this was such a huge deal-

“So you don’t care, then?” Wally said. His face was red, a tear or two rolled down his cheek.

“No, Wally, I do-“ Buris ignored the obvious suggestion to just _tell_ him. “-it’s just that-“

“Just what?” Wally said, the “what” nearly choked out by a cry and Arceus- _dammit_ Wally.

“-that, something bad happened and-“ _Tell him, say it! You know he cares don’t just-_ “and I care but-“

“But what?” Wally sniffled and took a couple of steps past the gym. “But that you were just leading me on? Toying with me?” Three more. “I’m sorry.” Five more. Burris reached out, hand outstretched. “I thought this meant something.”

And like that, he was gone. Burris trembled and shook, knees wobbling and threatening to knock him over. 

He plopped down on a bench and buried his face in his hands, the salt of the tears and sweat mixing.

“- but that’s just the problem.”

-

_A couple of days passed, and Aile could not get rid of the knot in her chest. Bianca had to prevent her from calling Liliana every given moment of the day._

_Aile brushed her teeth with force, light blue globs of paste dripping down onto her dirty white t-shirt. Her grip threatened to snap the toothbrush in two._

_Arceus forbid. It was bad enough when shit happened to Liliana, but to her **grandchildren** as well!? Sienna had apparently found him after… Liliana hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with details, which either meant she hadn’t dug into Burris’ mind to figure it out or was too scared to tell anyone._

_Still, Aile’s phone buzzed on the bathroom counter. Spitting out her toothpaste, Aile grabbed it._

_“Lil’?” Aile asked. “How are… how are things going.”_

_Liliana sniffled. “I’m..”_

_A pause, a tightening of Aile’s knot. The dull clang of pot on wall met Aile’s eardrums. She bit her lip and not a moment later she heard a knife going through the cedar wood of a table._

_“Lil’, you can tell me these things, you-“ BANG! Aile flinched at the sound of a wooden chair shattering on the floor. “Lil’? First off; holy shit,” Aile said. Liliana only responded with heavy, angered breathing. “Second off; what the fuck happened?”_

_A hot heavy snort escaped Liliana’s nose. “Burris went to a party with his friends and boyfriend….” Aile raised an eyebrow. “They had **left** without Burris by the time Sienna and the parents found Burris… Burris…”_

_Aile winced as a pot shattered a plaster wall._

_Her grip tensed on her phone and she grit her own teeth. And then a window shattered on the other side of the line. Aile took a breath and prepared for what she thought was impossible._

_“Lil’, you have to settle down,” Aile said. The fact she even had a tone of voice for reprimanding Liliana’s anger was impressive, really. Aile and Bianca were convinced Liliana had achieved zen at birth._

_“Why?” Liliana whispered. “So I let what happened to Burris just… just go?”_

_“No, fuck no!” Aile said. “Look, it doesn’t take much of a genius to pick up what you’re putting down here, but you have super powers for fucks sake!” Aile glanced at the sound of creaking hinges; Bianca peaked into the bathroom._

_It only took a second to capture her wife’s worry._

_“And!? Maybe I’ll use them to- to-“_

_Aile winced at the sound of something heavy and metal colliding with a kitchen counter._

_“Liliana. Please. Settle. Down,” Aile repeated. “Look, is anyone else home right now?”_

_“No.”_

_“Look.” Aile cast a glance at Bianca. “Look, if you lose your temper with your psychic powers you can…” Aile exhaled and her regrets followed. “You can hurt your loved ones with them if you’re not careful. Please.”_

_Silence._

_“Please, **please** calm down before they get home, ok? Burris needs you; Sienna does too. They need their mother, they don’t need her rage right now.”_

_Soft crying followed. Aile gnawed on her toothbrush._

_“O-ok,” Liliana choked out. “I just…”_

_“Look, this… look. Please, for the love of god. Call me every few days, ok?” Aile wrestled away the urge to bounce over to Hoenn right this instant. “You need an outlet here, you can’t bottle it up. You can say anything you need to to me, always. Promise.”_

_“Ok,” Liliana said. “Ok. Promise.”_

_“I love you, sweetie.”_

_“I love you too, mom.”_

-

Burris draped his head over the back of his seat, staring at the natural lighting up above. He remembered Dad bitching about fluorescent lights from back in his youth. Not that the difference mattered to Burris now.

He heard a cough and looked up. An older woman, short hair a brilliant mix of silver and blonde, leaned on the wall. Her sharp blue eyes mixed well with her deep navy coat, not unlike the design Kalos veterans preferred to wear. 

Burris’ eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?” He barely managed to put venom into his voice.

“Well, when there’s shouting and arguing outside of my gym…” Elesa said, pushing herself up. Arms crossed, she took the last remaining spot on the wooden bench. She stared for a moment and Burris reciprocated.

Finally, she spoke up. “You’re Aile’s grandkid, right?”

The shock made him forget about what had transpired for a moment.

“Uh, yeah. Burris,” he said. He twiddled his thumbs and stared at the tile floor. “… are you a friend of hers?”

Elesa chuckled. “I’ve known her since even before your mom was born,” she said. She stretched her arms out on the back of the bench. “You could say that, yeah.”

“Awesome,” Burris said. He ran a hand through his hair, anxiety gripping him once more. “Glad you got to hear all of.” He paused and snorted. “ _That._ ”

Elesa frowned. “Lover’s quarrel?” She wasn’t sure it was humanly possible for someone to turn their head away as fast as Burris just did. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She moved and stood up in front of Burris, smiling and offering a hand.

Burris’ eyes trailed up from that to Elesa’s face. 

“You’re my best friend’s grandchild,” Elesa said. “She’d kill me if I left you alone like this.”

Burris rubbed a few tears from his eyes and stood up. “What, are you taking me to your house?”

Elesa grinned. “Solid guess.”

She knew her old man would bitch at her for letting trainers stay at her place over a PokeCenter, but the Junipers weren’t any old trainers. And, well, she hadn’t offered it to Sienna either. Burris, well.

It wasn’t really a secret Burris wasn’t ok.

“I don’t even know your name,” Burris said. 

“Elesa Surge,” she said, walking ahead and gesturing. “C’mon, it’s not too far.”

Burris tilted his head and ran a hand over the back of his neck. Well, if nothing else, it was better than a PokeCenter. “Sure.”

Five minutes later, and Burris gawked up at a three story mansion. A subdued shade of yellow painted the house, complementing the charcoal black shingles. The rooftop and the overall build of the place made it seem like a miniature castle buried into the side of a mountain

“Like it?” Elesa said. She typed in a code on the front door. A few clicks of locks followed, and the door soon opened for her. 

“It’s impressive, yeah,” Burris mumbled. He trailed after Elesa into the gigantic entryway. A long spiral staircase ascended to the unseen upper floors. An elevator shaft, silver and shiny and contrasting with the deep mahogany floor and chocolate walls, stretched up above as well. “Even has an elevator and everything.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Elesa said. She clicked her tongue and checked the time. “Of course…” She shook her head and smiled back at Burris. Black circles under his eyes, tension in his body, a worried look in his blue eyes. A few cracked ribs and a broken arm away from being in Aile’s shoes when Elesa stumbled upon her decades ago.

“Look, I need to take care of something quick.” Elesa pointed at the spiraling staircase. “Guest room is the third one on the right after the bend, make yourself comfortable.”

“Sure,” Burris said. He twiddled his thumbs “Uh, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Fatigue gripped his body by the time he reached the top of the stairs. A slender hallway navigated between several rooms. Burris spied an elevator door next to a closed door. He blinked when he walked past. 

“… is someone snoring?” Burris asked. He sighed and walked past. “Forget it.” 

The guest room was… “Arceus, how rich is she?” 

A king sized bed with starry comforters and yellow pillows sat in the middle of it. A large TV- 50 inches minimum- sat on the opposite wall from the bed. A large closet was to the right of the bed, a door heading to a small bathroom to the right, a window providing him a near perfect view of the smoldering Mt. Chimney and the desert beside it.

The bed bounced as he sat down on it, the frame of his hiking backpack flopping to the floor. 

“Well, I can be miserable in a mansion now, I guess.”


	17. Father's Day Extra

Among the mess that was Eli's desk, a pair of cards sat stacked on top of one another. One had a Nidoking standing by a small family of Nidorans, male and female. The other sat open with a Ditto smiling inside of it, some joke about Dittos being able to be fathers to everyone typed inside. 

Eli chuckled at the punchline in his head again. Part of him wished his two kids were still around to celebrate, but Sienna found herself busy launching herself at some of the extremist groups that popped up in the region while Burris was just.. traveling. He smiled and took a sip of coffee. 

They'd be back some day. For a Gym Leader fight with their dear old dad. 

"And all children leave home some day," Eli muttered. He glanced down at his PokeNav, a message from Liliana on the screen. A "Sounds good" in response to "Sorry, I have a couple of challengers today." Of course it wasn't, well, good. Eli would've loved to have been home with Liliana for the day. But his wife had a plan for supper with him regardless, and Eli found his mind wandering to just what it could be. 

A yawn interrupted him. A Zigzagoon stirred from her pet bed, matching brown and white zigzag stripes on the outside.

"Oh, morning Sandy." Sandy stretched out and barked in response. Eli returned to his own thoughts.

There was that nice place by the small lake in town. Supposedly it specialized in Unovan cuisine. It would've been grossly overpriced had it been in Unova, but Eli's salary could easily afford that sort of deal.

His PokeNav buzzed again. A smiling green haired man holding a younger five year old Eli. Eli smiled widely.

"Hey Dad, happy father's day!" 

"Thanks, son. I got your present." Eli could damn near hear his dad smile.

"The Prism Tower jigsaw puzzle?" Eli said, then laughed. "I mean I know you always wanted to see how the real thing was built, so..."

"Well," N chuckled. "Even in puzzle form, it's as tall as I am."

"Of course you already built it," Eli said. He glanced at his screensaver, a picture of N holding Sienna and Burris. They couldn't have been older than three in this photograph. Eli grinned at the sight of Burris attempting to yank out a lock of Sienna's hair, N's eyes closed and ignoring the brewing fight in his lap.

"I suppose when you have time like I do..." N trailed off for a moment. "How are you doing? With Sienna and Burris, I mean."

Eli sighed. "It'd be nice if they were around for today, but, well." He shrugged. "All kids leave home some day."

"I suppose its true..." N hummed. 

Eli drummed his fingers on his desk. What felt like a minute passed in awkward silence. "Uh, Dad...?"

"Oh, sorry, sorry! I just. Lost myself in thought," N replied. He laughed. "Zinnia left home recently so your mother is still a bit broken up by it."

"Right, Burris mentioned he saw her." Eli spun around in his desk chair a bit and eyed the lower left corner of his computer screen. 10:45.

"I see," N said in a neutral tone. He coughed before continuing. "That said, if Burris and Sienna need anything from me, please let me know?"

"Sure, sure! Of course." Sienna could likely take on the world itself if she really needed to, but it was a solid gesture all the same. "Anyway the gym's still open for challengers today and I've got three scheduled here, so..."

"Oh right right," N said. "I'll let you go then."

"Bye Dad, love you."

"Love you too, son."

And with a beep, N was gone. Eli sighed at the silence that settled in, then pushed out his chair. He sipped his coffee and glanced at his schedule. "A badge five fight first? Damn, way to start off the day..." 

Muttering battle plans and pokemon selections, he walked towards the chipped wooden door. Sandy trotted alongside him. 

He paused and bent down to ruffle the top of her head. "You wanna watch some fights?" She stared up at him and wagged her tail. "Alright then, let's go girl."

And with a flip of a switch and a click of a lock, the office sat dark and quiet.


	18. Under Cold Blue Stars

Burris stared at the floor. He wasn’t sure for how long, but his rattling thoughts prevented him from doing much else. If nothing else, the fuzzy blankets were pretty soft. The low sounds of the ceiling fan spinning filled the room.

Burris could hear a faint shaking and a door opening not too far down the hall. Maybe whoever was snoring had woke up. He glanced down at his belt and sighed.

Moments later, his team walked around the room. Robby had taken one look at Burris and hopped up to his side, while Jonesy joined Madison in sniffing out their new space. Axel had taken up residence next to an outlet and… plugged his tail in. The Plusle’s fur stood on end and he purred gently.

Terri stared at Jorge while the Combusken glared up at Robby. The Dewott pointed back at Burris and at himself. Jorge’s eyes narrowed when Robby moved to pointing at him, the Dewott shaking his head and chittering to tell off the Combusken.

“Just stop for five seconds, ok?” Burris snapped. He buried his head in his hands and groaned. Jorge snorted and walked off, Terri in tow. Robby stared up at Burris with worried eyes, otter tail swishing up and down. “Look, Robby, I’ll be better if you stop arguing with Jorge, alright?”

Robby hissed and Burris glowered back, but a knock on the door cut the standoff short.

“Come in, I guess,” Burris said. Elesa held an empty row of plastic squares, each labeled with a day of the week in blue lettering.

“Sorry, had to take care of something first,” Elesa said, sitting down on the soft comforter. “But uh…” Rule of thumb; if you had to ask someone if they were ok, they weren’t. “Do you want to talk more about this? About your… well, friend?”

Burris rubbed his forehead. “Didn’t you overhear all of that?” he said. “He got too pushy. That’s it.”

“Mhmm,” Elesa said. She folded her hands in her lap. “Sorry about that, by the way. I don’t mean to listen in on stuff like that but, well.”

“Well?”

“Trainers that lose can be a little… hotheaded.” Elesa chuckled. “And sometimes they’re stupid enough to come back and try to pick a fight.”

“Oh.” Burris momentarily forgot about his own anxiety at the sight of Elesa’s smirk. A sly smirk, one that suggested getting on her bad side was a poor life decision. “Guess people are just. Sensitive.”

“I was about to say stupid but… that works, too.” The bed shifted and Elesa pushed herself up. “Anyway if you wanna talk more later, let me know.”

Burris tried to hide his displeasure with that. Just because Elesa knew Aile didn’t mean she had any right to know about that _thing_.

“Sure.”

“I’ll be downstairs making dinner.” Elesa paused and looked back in the room just in time to see Axel clamber up to the top of Madison’s head. “Make yourself at home, you can stay as long as you’d like.”

The door clicked shut behind her.

-

_”Oh for fucks sake,“ Aile grumbled. A mess of batteries, wires and pieces of cloth sat before her on the tan kitchen tile, in-between an embarrassed Joltik and Karrablast. “You two little shits I swear to Arceus- JOAN!” Aile called into the hallway, and an Escaliver floated in. A few cracks were imprinted on her proud battle-tested armor._

_The Escavalier looked between the two guilty bugs and closed her eyes with an annoyed huff._

_“Get your kids shit together, please,” Aile asked. Her Transceiver vibrated against the ceramic countertop. “Oh who is--“ Her gaze softened. “Hey sweetheart.”_

_“Hi mama,” Liliana responded in a solemn tone._

_“Everything alright?” If you had to ask if something was ok, it generally wasn’t._

_“Burris is… still struggling.” Aile could feel Liliana’s unseen frown. “He hasn’t been sleeping much.”_

_“That’s never good.”_

_“No,” Liliana said. “Not eating much, either.”_

_“Have you tried a therapist?” Aile leaned against the wooden cabinets, free hand drumming against the counter._

_“A couple of times. We’ll see if they work, I guess.”_

_“That doesn’t sound like the most convincing thing ever,” Aile noted._

_“I’m not sure if anything makes this better, mama,” Liliana admitted._

_“Well.” Aile tilted her head back and forth._

_“Well?”_

_Aile grimaced. She considered bringing up Liliana’s own psychic abilities, but. Truth be told, Aile still wasn’t sure if using psychic powers in therapy was, well, morally acceptable. Without proper training at the least._

_She knew she didn’t like having someone digging through her head. Good thing she didn’t have to worry about that anymore._

_“Nevermind.”_

_“… Okay.”_

_“Just…” Aile bit her lip. A faint tingling sensation went up her leg from a Joltik clambering up. “Just- are you sure you don’t want me to come to Hoenn for a bit?”_

_Liliana exhaled for a few seconds. “It’s a sweet offer but I don’t want to burden you like that…”_

_“Lil’, it’s not really a burden.” Aile bit her lip. “… Promise you’ll let me know if you need me over there?”_

_“Promise.”_

-

Supper came and supper went, and while Elesa’s homemade mac n’ cheese was delicious Burris barely finished a small bowl of it. Elesa prodded him once again on the whole Wally thing, and after that Burris wasn’t in the mood to stick around and eat more.

He stared out at the night’s scenery, the moon highlighting the northern part of Hoenn in a dull light. The stars coated the night sky. Burris wasn’t sure if it was possible to see more of them… He peaked up at his bed to check his PokeNav.

1:03 am. No texts from Wally. No sleep. Burris grumbled and threw his blanket off. He grabbed Robby’s capsule and walked out the door.

He gulped down the fresh air. Elesa had, mercifully, left him a card to come and go from the house as he pleased. One could’ve mistaken it for a prison otherwise.

Of course, he didn’t really feel like travelling now. It dawned on him minutes in that he hadn’t told Mom or Dad anything about this yet.

“… what would I even say?” Burris mumbled. “Sorry, I met a cute guy that got pushy and caused me to panic?” Burris shoved his hands into his pockets. It wouldn’t be hard for either of them to pick up on why, Burris didn’t want to do that song and dance all over again.

He grimaced at the sight of an avalanche of rock blocking the path north. “I guess I’m reliving that no matter what, aren’t I?”

He sighed and looked down at Robby’s capsule. Tossing it in front of him, Robby stretched his arms over his head and yawned while Burris walked past. The Dewott squeaked and sprinted to catch up. Their footsteps disturbed the dewy grass. Burris wasn’t really sure where to go, but a small lake caught his attention. A few Surskit skated on the top of the water off in the distance.

Robby stared down one. Burris sat down and curled up. Chucking his shoes to the side, Burris let the cool waves wash over his toes.

“You know I don’t feel great, don’t you,” Burris said. Robby stiffed up and bristled. “Yeah, figured that much.” Burris stared down at his reflection. The bags under his eyes had deepened a bit. “Is that why you’re bitching at Jorge?”

Robby nodded and hissed.

“Yeah, well, stop.” Robby’s eyes widened. “He’s trying to help, ok? I’m not really sure what either of you can do, but.”

Robby waved his arms up and down and bristled.

“I know, I know! We’ve known each other as long as you’ve been around, just that…” Burris rubbed his forehead. “It’s complicated now.”

Robby deflated and chirped. Burris flexed his toes in the water.

“Just, ugh,” Burris murmured. “I don’t know anymore. It was bad enough but I just…” He snorted. “I thought I had gotten past all of that.”

Burris shook his head.

“I guess not.”

Robby leaped up onto Burris’ knees. He balanced the top of his head on them, wavering for a few seconds before landing in the pond with a tremendous splash.

Burris wiped some water drops off his brow, and Robby reemerged with a bit of algae stuck to his face.

Burris chuckled.

-

_A pair of smaller Spheals dozed. One hardly noticed Aile’s head resting on top of it; the other nuzzled into her waist. Bianca had just left for another foundation trip out to Alola, and if it weren’t for all of the pokemon around the house Aile would’ve felt lonely._

_Her eyelids began to droop, and at the precise moment she almost drifted off to sleep her phone rumbled on the mahogany wood of her nightstand._

_“Of course,” Aile grumbled. She brought her hands down her face before grabbing it. Liliana. “What’s up, sweetie?”_

_“Do you remember that meeting?” Liliana asked, a satisfied tone to her voice._

_“Uh… oh!” Aile sat upright, the pillow slash Spheal stirring and looking up with big black eyes. “Right, the one with the ex’s parents.”_

_“Mhmm. And the boy, too.” Aile could feel Liliana’s venom through the phone. “Anyway, they moved.”_

_Liliana’s voice turned chipper._

_“Uh… out of Oldale?” Aile would be lying if she wasn’t slightly unsettled._

_“Out of Hoenn.”_

-

The next days came and went. Burris couldn’t remember how many, they had started to blend together.

Still, Burris tried to maintain some semblance of a routine. Like going down for supper. He stared at the half eaten bowl on the table, thinking about how he had dodged telling Mom and Dad about it. Still, it was just—

“Did I ever tell you about how I met your grandma?” Elesa said. Burris raised an eyebrow and looked up.

“No.”

Elesa’s spoon clattered in her empty bowl. “Well…” Elesa hummed. Burris knew she was wrestling with some way to get some point across. Burris suspected she knew there was some underlying reasoning behind this, that it wasn’t just Wally… “Well, to make a very long story short, she got dropped off on my doorstep in Nimbasa by a ranger. He said a couple of pokemon had dragged her out of the Relic Castle, and she had a few broken bones to her name.”

Elesa pushed her bowl to give room for her crossed arms on top of the black wooden table. Burris noted there were almost eight chairs around it; odd, given Burris hadn’t seen anyone but Elesa here.

“And?” Burris said.

“Well… as it turns out, that was- and this is going to sound ridiculous- but that was in part due to Bianca.”

Burris blinked. And then shook his head. “Excuse me?” Did he hear that right?

Elesa breathed out through her nose. “In part. She had been attacked by Bianca, but she had been under control of… a psychic.” The dodge had not gone unnoticed, but Burris knew better than to dig deeper into his family history.

“But it still rattled Aile deeply,” Elesa explained. “She blamed herself- she mentioned a bad falling out to me even before that- and even with the suspicion something wasn’t right it still gnawed at her.”

Filed under; Elesa still missing the point.

“O-oh.” Burris coughed. “I, uh, see.”

“The reality is; sometimes with shit like this it’s just out of your control,” Elesa explained. Burris tensed up, resisting the urge to snap back with a “No shit.” “And yeah, this doesn’t involve psychics or some crazy out there bullshit, but…”

“Does Grandma Aile let you tell this to anyone?”

Elesa scoffed. “Hell no. But if there’s anyone she’d let me explain it to, it’s you. Especially if she heard what went down here.”

“Good to know.” Burris crossed his arms.

Elesa tilted her head. “Have you… told Liliana or your dad about this yet, by chance?”

Burris pushed out from the table, metal feet scraping against tile flooring.

“Of course.”

He walked off. Elesa’s unconvinced gaze burrowed into the back of his head.

-

_Another day, another call. Aile looked down at the vibrating Transceiver on her home desk and bit her lip._

_“Hi Lil’,” Aile said. Liliana breathed out sharply, almost like a shudder. “… is--“_

_“Burris and Eli got into a fight,” Liliana said. “Again.”_

_Aile shook her head and drummed her fingers on the brown wood. “Grades again?”_

_“History this time,” Liliana continued on and sighed. “I don’t want Eli to be so harsh on him, but…”_

_“But he’ll have to redo the class if he fails, right?” Aile asked._

_“Yeah.” Hushed silence followed. “Burris just- he’s still struggling with all of that.”_

_“I mean, I don’t blame him! Arceus fuck.”_

_“I don’t either, mama.” Liliana exhaled. “It’s been a harsh few months here.”_

_“Are you sure you don’t want me to come over there?” Aile asked. She had no idea what she could even do besides provide moral support, but it had to be better than just sitting around a whole world away._

_“… No,” Liliana said after a moment’s hesitation. “No, we’ll figure it out.”_

_Aile bit her tongue. “Ok.” Aile made a note to call Cheren for babysitting duties. Just in case. Bianca was used to Aile vanishing at a moment’s notice due to police duties anyway. Aile tore herself away from her planning to the silence that had set in. “Uh, look, just try to tackle this again tomorrow, alright? It’ll make things better.”_

_“We’ll see.” Liliana’s tone was quiet, tired, exhausted. Aile clicked her tongue. “Night, mama.”_

_Aile sighed. “Night sweetie. Just tell me if you need me to come.”_

_Liliana hung up._

_-_

“Robby, STOP.”

Jorge and Robby gawked up at Burris, sweat on his brow and body shaking. The others stared from around the room.

“Please just- just stop, ok?”

Robby chirped and slouched his shoulders.

“I told you to stop doing that to Jorge, ok? Just.” Burris buried his face in his sweaty palms and slammed back into bed. Grabbing a pillow, his muffled shouts caused Jonesy’s ears to droop. Axel and Terri looked at each other, while Robby and Jorge stalked away.

Madison had taken to curling up closer to Jonesy by the time Burris heard knocking.

“Sure, come in.” Burris tossed the spittle-drenched pillow to the side.

“Hey, kid,” Elesa said, leaning on the doorframe. “I want to show you something.”

Her gaze suggested Burris didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Burris followed Elesa in silence to the hallway. In a matter of seconds, Elesa stopped in front of a particular door. Burris racked his brain trying to think of why it felt important.

The light snoring brought it back to him.

Elesa held a lone finger over her mouth to hush Burris and they entered the dark room together. Medical machines of varying sizes, with different shapes and unique screens, surrounded a bed not unlike Burris’. Another smaller bed sat to the side, a tower of food next to it labeled “Sparky.”

The Raichu looked up from the bed, eyes half shut and fluttering at Elesa. A jagged red scar ran down his left side; ancient burn marks dotted his belly.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” Elesa said, bending down to pet Sparky. Electricity arced off of his cheeks, alert eyes glaring at Burris. “He’s not going to hurt Dad, don’t worry.”

Burris blinked. Dad? His eyes trailed to the slumbering form in the larger bed. Wires and plastic tubes were hooked up to an older man. Once strong muscles had given way to atrophy , short blonde hair missing in chunks. Wrinkles dominated every aspect of his face, once fierce blue eyes now clouded as they stared at Burris.

“Burris,” Elesa said. She crossed her arms and exhaled through her nose. “This is my dad. Nathan Surge.”

Burris stiffened, back straight like a ruler.

“Him?” Burris pointed at the bed. “He’s your dad. The Lieutenant Nathaniel Surge.”

Lt. Surge looked up, mumbled a mhmm, and then plopped his head back down on his pillows. In a matter of moments, Sparky had jumped onto his bed, the Raichu’s scars on his back stretching as he curled up into a ball at the end of it. His ears twitched at the feeling of his trainer’s hand running through his fur.

“Yep.” Elesa swore and instinctively dug her hand into her right pocket. She stopped and gritted her teeth. “In all of his glory.” She walked for the door, red and white cardboard in her right hand and opened.

“Uh.” Burris glanced at the bed, then at Elesa, then at the bed again. Was this some sort of joke?

“I’m not done talking to you yet,” Elesa snapped, brown cigarette sticking out of her mouth. “I just…” She sighed. “I’d rather talk somewhere where I can smoke.”

The two walked in silence to the elevator. Elesa tapped an R on the dashboard, and it lurched up.

Burris opened his mouth and then shut it, looking away from Elesa for a moment. He ran a hand through his hair. What was the point of that? Or this, he supposed.

The elevator dinged. Elesa timed her walk with the elevator doors opening, an inviting cool breeze escorting the two out to the rooftop. A small fenced off porch was nestled in alongside the sharp incline of the roof. The moon and stars drowned out the skies. Burris could make out a decaying sandstone tower in the middle of the desert, even the small stick figures of people walking around in.

The click of the lighter, the flash of fire interrupted. Elesa inhaled for a few moments, breath shaking, before she exhaled. The smoke hung in the air before the light breeze took it away.

“Let’s just say I haven’t smoked until recently and leave it at that,” Elesa said. She tapped a few hot ashes off on the shingles.

“I… see.”

“Look,” Elesa said. Water-y and fierce blue eyes stared down at Burris. “If there’s one thing these past few years taught me it’s that you should never take people for granted.” Elesa brought the cancer stick back to her mouth. “Fuck.”

Burris leaned on the cold metal railing. What could he even say here?

“I’m not going to pretend I know everything going on with you, but I do know it’s not worth it tossing away stuff over petty shit.”

Burris’ eyes narrowed. “It’s not--“ Burris threw his hands up. Of fucking course. “I don’t know about this, but I’m going to pretend like I do anyway,” he said to himself in a mocking tone. “Nevermind.”

Elesa cocked an eyebrow. “It’s not the same thing here, exactly. I just know that--“

“Look, I appreciate your help,” Burris said. His stern tone bordering on annoyed, his crossed arms, his scrunched face suggested otherwise. “But it’s not just throwing away a relationship over petty stuff, and--“

“And?” Elesa frowned. “Look, I can’t help you out if you don’t tell me shit.”

“No.”

“No?” Elesa’s frown sharpened. “Listen here.” She jabbed her pointer finger at Burris. “I’m not revealing Aile’s secrets, I’m not showing you my fucking father just to get some kid who stone walls me over it.”

“Fine! Then don’t!” Burris said, voice bordering on a shout. “I don’t want to know what happened to my grandma or my mom or any of my family on their journeys! I-I--“ Burris noticed Elesa tensing up herself, a small part of him suggested he should just come out and say it but fuck it and fuck her. “I just want to have a normal journey, I don’t want any of their shit, I didn’t want any of this shit.”

“Then do something about it!” Elesa snapped back, muttering a “shit” as she flicked a half-complete cigarette down below. “Look, if there’s anything my dad, my life taught me is that you can’t just dodge this shit.” She could believe Burris when he said he didn’t want to talk about it, but… “You, eventually, need to take it on whether you like it or not.”

“Absolutely not!” Burris said, voice shaking and the vague sense of wetness forming at the corners of his eyes. “I don’t--“

“I’m sorry. Too fucking bad,” Elesa said. Her shoes clacked on the wood back to the heavy metal door. “Gym battle, 8 am sharp. Be there or I’m kicking you out--“

“Fine!”

Elesa’s sharp gaze tore through Burris’ soul. “—and telling your parents what’s been happening.”

Burris froze, his defiance deflating, mouth dry and words unable to come out.

“See you then. Try to get some sleep.” Elesa stopped with her hand wrapped around the knob. A moment of contemplation came and went. With a heavy slam and a stomping of feet, Elesa was gone. Burris trembled for a moment, legs shaking. He slid down to a sitting position, arms wrapped around his shins and face buried in his knees.


	19. I'll Face Myself

The sun rose. Burris grumbled and tossed to his other side. The star-drowned comforter was only cozy if you actually slept with it over you. He stared at the ceiling, and then grabbed his phone. 7:30 AM.

Here went something.

Dew glistened on the grass; the path into Mauville dead quiet. The silence of the city itself confounded Burris for a few moments before he realized it was the weekend.

Arceus, he had lost track of his days. Mercifully for him the gym sat near the north exit of the city, pristine as well. The doors slid open to greet him though the desk and lobby inside were outright empty. Burris glanced at the electronic schedule on the door; open at 9 AM on weekends unless otherwise stated. 

Next to the billboard sat a piece of printer paper; “Closed Until 11 AM”

“Well, there it is.” Burris grumbled. He glanced up at the stairs heading up into the unknown, and so he went. His dull steps intermingled with the static crackling of the electricity, red and blue and flowing between the tesla coils like water. As he got closer to the top, caught a very vague glimpse of the edge of the battlefield, the electricity switched to yellow and black.

Elesa had a sense of style, if nothing else. 

Burris paused for a moment or two to gather himself, taking a few breaths to steady himself. He hadn’t even really considered a battle plan here.

“Guess I’ll just rely on Jorge,” he muttered. Maybe lead with Madison to test the waters… Terri wouldn’t be bad to see what Elesa would lead with, either. Of course, Burris couldn’t shake the nagging feeling of Elesa’s grand plan for him here. 

The battlefield stretched out before him. A small trainer’s box sat on his side, white holographic markings on black flooring. Burris realized it was cushioned with rubber and a mix of other materials, likely to prevent Pokemon from being too hurt or from her pokemon shorting out the TV-

Burris blinked and spun around. The higher you went in the ranks, the more likely you were to end up on TV. No one wanted to see some kid take on Roxanne or Eli’s basic pokemon, but a third gym battle? Mercifully, the yellow and black plastic seats welcomed Burris with no one.

He breathed a shaky sigh of relief. A scoreboard sat on the high end of the opposite wall. Two spots where pictures were supposed to go sat empty, next to three empty name slots. A few yards below it sat Elesa’s trainer box.

Well, tower. Coated in a silver-colored rubber, it stretched out above the gym. Elesa sat at the top of it, leaning on the railings and observing Burris take his spot in the challenger’s box. 

He stared up for a moment, only to see a dizzying arrangement of lights up. A few of them were currently lightning the arena. A particularly large spot light sat dormant above him. He craned his neck to see if Elesa had a similar one.

“Hello there,” Elesa said. “This will be a 3 on 3 battle for your third gym badge. This will be a test of just what you’re capable of doing and overcoming to achieve victory.”

“Is that it, then?” Burris snapped back, hand grasped around Madison’s capsule. “It can’t be that simple with how you were acting last night.”

Elesa grabbed for a capsule of her own. “It never is simple, is it?” With a toss and an illuminating flash, a small light green reptile appeared on her side of the arena.

In response, Madison formed in front of Burris. She glanced side to side, then to the Electrike, then to Burris and barked.

“You’ll be fine, girl,” Burris said. Orders were exchanged, and Mightyena lunged for a quickly retreating Electrike. Burris glared. “It would be if it weren’t for you!”

Elesa scoffed and crossed her arms. “How? By bottling it up and pretending all of this doesn’t exist?” The Electrike whined against Madison’s jaws locking around her waist. 

“No!”

Madison tossed her unfortunate reptilian opponent down onto the rubberized ground with a thud. She growled and pawed at her nose, fur standing on end.

“Oh? What was the plan, then?” Elesa said, arms outstretched. The two combatants circled around each other. She leaned over the ledge, harsh blue eyes staring down into Burris’ angry gaze. “Tell me. Wimberly, Spark.”

“I- I would’ve figured it out!”

The Electrike lunged for Madison, body surrounded by electricity. Elesa scoffed. Madison batted the Electrike down to the ground with a paw, the electric type bouncing for a few moments before being recalled.

“Really?” Elesa tossed out another pokemon, a Pikachu. “Burris, there’s no shame in asking for help.”

“It’s none of your business!” Burris snapped, Madison vanishing into her capsule and Terri taking her place.

“It is your parents business,” Elesa said. “Nicky, Quick Attack.”

The Pikachu lowered her ears and darted for Terri. The Lombre gave a blank stare before her arms lashed out like rubber bands. Nicky stopped in her tracks and rubbed the red marks on her cheeks.

“So? They’re not here!” Burris pointed at Elesa, voice raised. “YOU’RE the one making this YOUR business! There is NO-“ Burris slashed his arms outwards and shook his head for emphasis. “- reason for you to get involved with this!”

Elesa observed her Pikachu twirling around the battlefield for a few moments,

“I see a grandkid of my best friend who is clearly not ok,” Elesa said, arms crossed. Bubbles popped against Nikki’s yellow fur with enough force to send her rolling up to the base of Elesa’s tower. She withdrew the Pikachu in a slender beam of red light. “I see someone who needs to realize that he has to face his own hardships, no matter how hard it might be.”

In a flash of red and white, a Zebstrika formed on the opposite side of the field. Scars intermingled with the white lightning bolt stripes, fierce blue eyes causing Terri to shrink. 

“And if it has to be Helena and I here to make you realize that, so be it.”

Helena snorted and pawing her front-left hoof against the ground.

“Wild Charge.”

Sparks danced around Helena’s body until they formed a proverbial coat of electric armor. Terri glanced back for one brief second at Burris; one brief second enough to miss Helena closing within feet of the Lombre.

“Dodge, then Bubble!”

Terri leaped to the side on Burris’ shouted order, a few of the sparks springing off of Helena’s glowing body. Convulsing, the Lombre stopped in place for a few seconds before a spray of bubbles popped against Helena’s hide.

She snorted and galloped back around towards Elesa. Then stopped only a few feet away from Terri’s back

“Stomp.” 

Terri croaked before flying backwards like a rag doll, two fresh red hoof marks on her face. The Lombre lifted her head off the ground once before crashing back down.

“I…” Burris started to say, blinking and gawking at the sight of his unconscious Pokemon. His hand shook a little as it grasped around Terri’s Premier Ball.

“Hiding from all of this just buys you time until it eats away at your soul, your heart.” Elesa watched as Terri vanished from the battlefield in a stream of red light. “Do you think you deserve that?”

“Maybe!“ Burris tossed out Madison’s capsule and felt sweat rolling down his forehead. The Mightyena slipped for a moment on the slimey substance Terri left behind on the ground, before getting her footing again. She growled and glared at Helena.

The Zebstrika shook her head and snorted.

“Do you think your grandparents want to see you like this?”

Burris gulped, mouth feeling dry and head spinning lightly. Roxanne and Brawly weren’t like this. “Madison, roll then Bite!”

The Mightyena felt a few bolts dance around her as she tumbled to the floor, rolling towards Helena’s left flank. Burris covered his eyes from the sheer light of the Zebstrika’s second electric attack, stopping only inches away from his trainer’s box. 

“Sienna? Wally?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Burris shouted. With a snarl and a lunge, Madison dug her claws into Helena’s side, then locked her jaw on. Helena shook her body left and right, neighing all the while. Madison hung on for dear life, body flopping all over the place.

“Dad? Mom?” Elesa crossed her arms at the sight of Madison flying in the air, landing on all four paws and taking a second to steady herself. A second Helena needed to close in again. 

“NO!”

Helena raised her hooves.

“Then what the fuck are you doing, then?”

Madison whined as both hooves slammed into her side, the dark type crashing to the ground just shy of Burris. 

Burris froze mid-pose, Madison’s ball outstretched and retrieving its resident. A lump sat in his throat.

“I…” Burris tried to reply, voice shaking and quivering, mind racing for some sort of explanation, some sort of way out, some sort of solution. He reached down for Jorge’s capsule. “I don’t want any of this, I don’t want to-“

“There are people that love you and care about you, and you need as well,” Elesa replied, voice reverberating around the battlefield. “Why do I see that look in your eyes that suggests that, maybe, you deserved all of this?” Helena snorted.

Burris glared back. He tossed Jorge onto the battlefield, the Combusken blinking as he got a measure of his surroundings. “I-“

“You can face it down or you can let it _destroy_ you,” Elesa said, hands clamped down on her railing. “And you don’t have to face it down alone, but…” Elesa paused, fist over mouth to cover a coughing fit. “Shit,” she muttered. “Fucking cigarettes.” One last light cough followed. “But you have to tell people WHY this happened, give them some sort of rope to climb up to try and fucking help.”

Jorge looked back at the lack of instruction, shoulder slouched as fiery orange eyes observed his trainer shaking. He chirped and tapped a finger on his beak, his eyes trailing down to the remaining capsules on Burris’ belt. 

Burris’ mind spun, his heart slowed, a knot of emotions crushing his body with anxiety, with fatigue, with the nagging feeling dancing around in the back of his mind that he deserved all of this, that he deserved to be _alone_ because who would even bother with him in the first place, that it’d just make everything _better_ , that-

Jorge’s eyes followed Burris as he plopped to the ground, arms around his knees and head buried into his thighs.

“So I’m going to ask one last time, and I want an actual answer; Why?”

-

_”Ugh, that Lusamine woman is something else entirely.”_

_Bianca and Aile sat together in their king sized bed. While one large tan comforter sat on top of both of them, they each had a fuzzy cotton blanket beneath it because battling over one blanket was a complete pain in the ass. A Walrein, gray hairs intermingling with blue fur, slept with a pair of Spheals on Aile’s side of the bed. A Dewott curled up in a small cotton candy-colored pet bed on Bianca’s side._

_“Eh, some people are just like that,” Aile said with a shrug. “Besides, you don’t have to go back to Alola to work with her foundation anymore, right?”_

_“Gods, I hope not.” Bianca rubbed her eyes, pushing her glasses up on her forehead. She sighed. “I feel bad for her kids if she’s anything like that with them.”_

_“Over the top, controlling, total bitch? Yeah that sounds like a recipe for an awful mother,” Aile said. She’d never claim to be the best mother herself, but she knew damn well what an awful mother was and it wasn’t her. Or Bianca. Or Aurea… She smiled and began to rub Bianca’s shoulders. She tensed up and gasped at the feeling of Aile’s fingers rubbing deep into her muscles. “Damn, you really have been stressed.”_

_“Mmmmm,” Bianca said, eyes shut. “Usually it’s not this bad. At least we’re focusing on kids and their ailments again soon.”_

_“Kids are so much better than most adults,” Aile said. “Like Wally! I felt bad you had to be elsewhere when we were treating him, he’s the cutest little shit.”_

_Bianca giggled. “You talked enough about him, that’s for sure.”_

_Aile pressed her lips up against Bianca’s neck, sending a tingling sensation throughout Bianca’s body. She lifted her lips for just a moment to say, “You know I’ve missed having these small moments.”_

_“Mmmm, same here,” Bianca replied, feeling Aile’s hand go for the strap of her light green tank top and- and then the sound of a vibrating wristwatch snapped the two out of it, convulsing against the hardwood of the night stand._

_“Oh my fucking god,” Aile said. She slammed her head back into her pillow. “I swear to fucking Arceus I just wanted to f-“ She paused at the caller ID “-iretruck you.”_

_Bianca crossed her arms and peered over Aile’s shoulder. “Oh.”_

_Liliana._

_Aile tapped the screen and with a click Liliana’s voice was clear for both of them._

_“Hey sweetie,” the two said in near unison._

_“Hi mom, hi mama,” Liliana replied, gravity and weight in her voice._

_Aile and Bianca exchanged glances. Aile’s mind calculated out the time; around noon on a Saturday, Hoenn time._

_At least it wasn’t another late night hospital visit._

_“What’s happening, Lili?” Bianca said._

_“Burris got into a shouting match with Eli,” she said quietly._

_“Again?” Aile asked._

_“Worse this time.”_

_Bianca raised an eyebrow at Aile, who shrugged and grimaced._

_“… How bad was it?” Bianca asked, hesitation almost drowning out the words._

_The two could swear they could hear Liliana’s lip quiver._

_“W-well… his midterm report card came in,” Liliana replied. “History’s barely improved, his other subjects have dipped.” She paused for a steadying breath. “So they got into a fight, Burris shouted back saying that Eli was just making things worse-“_

_“Oh, goddammit,” Aile whispered. Bianca bit her lip._

_“I just…” Liliana sniffled. “Burris locked himself in his room, I’m not even sure if I should leave him _alone_ in there and Eli went storming back to his office and Sienna just… she feels so helpless and hates it and-”_

_The dam holding back tears broke.. Aile’s fist trembled; water formed at the bottom of Bianca’s eyes._

_“I just don’t know what to do anymore-“_

-

“- I’m scared.”

Burris looked up, past Jorge and towards Elesa, eyes watering and body shaking.

“That’s why.”

Even at a distance, Elesa could see the honest to Arceus fear in Burris’ eyes. It unnerved her slightly that she could sense it; it was the same look Dad had when he found out he had dementia, the same look Grandpa had when he realized his body finally gave up on him, the same look little old her had when she was alone and orphaned by war-

“Helena, heel,” Elesa said. Helena snorted and laid down, surveying the situation as Elesa walked past. Jorge clicked his beak and waved a clawed hand in front of Burris’ face.

No response. Jorge squeaked, shoulders slumped. The faint sound of sniffling hit Elesa’s ears as she got close. 

“Excuse me, little guy,” she said. Plopping down to the ground, Elesa brought her knees back to her chest. “Burris?”

He squeezed his legs tighter. Jorge walked around Elesa and chirped at Burris again. No response. Jorge narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not going to pretend that I understand whatever… whatever happened to you before.” Elesa leaned her chin on her knees. “But it’s not hard to see that you’re genuinely scared here, either.” She bit her lip as Burris let out a whine. “It’s,” she trailed off and hummed, guilt tugging at the corners of her heart.

No one ever said facing your demons was a comfortable experience, her brain pointed out.

Jorge squawked at Burris again. The boy wrapped himself up tighter. Jorge’s heart felt heavy and his mind irritated. Not just irritated at his trainer locking up, but at the nagging sensation that throughout all of their arguments, Robby was right.

Jorge walked up to Burris’ belt and grabbed a red and white capsule, Robby printed on it in black lettering. Jorge scratched at the ball, eyes narrowed and fingers tensed around it.

-

_”That’s it.”_

_Aile tossed the blanket off of her bed and her feet onto the floor. Her Walrein let out an annoyed grunt at her hide being kicked._

_“I should’ve done this fucking months ago, I’m doing it now.” Aile stomped towards the closet and ripped the doors open, scanning the suitcases and hanging clothing in an attempt to cobble together some excuse for packing._

_“Liliana, sweetie?” Bianca said, phone now emitting nothing but tears. “It’ll… it’ll be ok, Mama and I are right here.”_

_“I’m calling Anabel and asking for her bitch of an Alakazam to get me to Hoenn, I’m getting this stupid suitcase packed and- ack!” She felt the warmth and fat of a Walrein nudge into her back, and yellow eyes stared back up at her. “Oh Katara, I’m so sorry, did I wake you up?” she said in a softer tone._

_She felt the roughness of Katara’s tongue on her face. “Aha ok, I should’ve known- OW!” The weight of Katara suddenly pinned her legs down to the ground and giving Aile a very nice view of the white ceiling. “Katara you-“ Aile said, then chuckled. “You’re lucky I’m not giving birth to more kids.”_

_She ran her hand through the Walrein’s white fluffy head. The same Walrein Aile found as a tiny malnourished Spheal in Undella Bay, for a little 10 year old girl who found herself with nothing but anger and attitude at the time. A little bundle of joy who Aile could always rely on even in her darkest mom-_

_Gears churned in her mind, a lightbulb went off as an idea came to fruition in Aile’s head._

_“Holy shit,” she whispered. “Katara, off please.” The Walrein protested with a groan but slid off all the same. Aile rushed back to the bed, her legs aching._

_It was worth a shot._

_“Lili, Lili, idea; what about a Pokemon?”_

_Bianca blinked._

_A period of silence from the phone followed. “W-what? We have so many, I don’t-“_

_“WE have so many,” Aile interrupted. “BURRIS doesn’t. L-look, I’m not guaranteeing this’ll work or anything, but giving him some other responsibility, something else to focus on other than himself, something to _care_ for…” Aile shrugged. “I mean, I’ve seen crazier things happen.”_

_“… Right, ok, right,” Liliana replied. The bed shifted a little bit as a dreary-eyed Dewott hopped onto Bianca’s side. The blonde smiled and rubbed the water type behind an ear. “But… which one?”_

_Aile turned to the scene unfolding at the edge of her bed._

_“I have an idea.”_

-

A flash of light and Robby formed from nothingness in front of the group. The capsule came to a gentle halt by Jorge’s clawed foot. Jorge twitched his whiskers and looking around for a brief moment, before his eyes went to Burris.

He chirped at a high pitch and turned back towards Jorge. The Combusken rolled his eyes and sighed before throwing up his hands. 

Robby rubbed his chin, deep in thought for a few moments. His heart ached at the site of Burris like this, a not wholly unfamiliar sight but one from years ago now, one he saw every so often when he was just a newborn.

Finally, a brilliant plan clicked into place.

Elesa and Jorge’s eyes widened at the sight of a well-aimed stream of water hit Burris right in the forehead, causing him to gasp and fall onto his back.

“Owwww, Robby!” Burris snapped, rubbing the fresh red mark on his forehead. He blinked, glancing between Robby, Jorge, then Elesa. “Robby?”

The Dewott rushed in close to Burris, nudging his head underneath Burris’s chin.

“Who let you out?” Burris asked, wiping some tears from his eyes. 

“That… would be the Combusken,” Elesa said. She gestured towards Jorge, who crossed his arms and nodded. 

“Jorge?” Burris said and blinked as Jorge looked away. “Oh.” The arguments. Of course. He wrapped an arm around Robby. “He can help too, you know.”

Robby bristled for a moment, moving away from Burris just a bit and crossing his arms.

“What sort of attitude is that?” Elesa asked. Robby pouted and inflated his cheeks. “It’s ok to let others help, you know,” she continued on. “Arceus knows no one can take what the world throws at them alone.”

The sound of hooves against rubber heralded Helena’s arrival, who snorted before nudging her snout into Elesa’s hair. “Yes, I was talking about you.” Helena nodded before lying down, making herself comfortable. Burris noticed the bite marks from Madison, the red splotches from Terri’s bubbles.

Right, at some point this had been a gym battle.

“But at the end of the day it takes more than just one to get you through things,” Elesa continued on, scratching Helena’s coarse fur beneath her chin. “I had Helena here when I was living on Nimbasa’s streets, but Aile helped me through some rough times too. Helped me reconnect with Dad, begrudgingly helped Cheren in his proposal.”

“Begrudgingly?”

Elesa chuckled. “That’s a story for your grandmas to tell.” She coughed and continued on. “But Robby, you have something special and irreplaceable with Burris, it’s not hard to tell.”

Robby moved in closer, damp fur starting to drench Burris’ shirt.

“But Jorge can help too. He did let you out after all.”

Jorge had a slight smirk on his face. Robby stuck his tongue out in response.

“Y-yeah, he did…” Burris trailed off and looked to a corner of the room. “And let me guess, you have something similar to say to me.”

Elesa nodded. Burris sighed and shook his head.

“I… wasn’t blowing you off just to be spiteful,” Burris said, tone just above a whisper. “Look, I.” He turned away and coughed. “I wasn’t doing that to Wally, either. I just… felt like it got too close, too pushy.”

“And?” Elesa leaned her chin on her hands.

Burris took in a deep breath. “I felt like if I got in a relationship again like that then, well.” He moved his hands around him, arms outstretched. “Well, you’ve seen how I’ve been acting up.” He hugged his arms around his knees and looked at the floor. “I know he wouldn’t hurt me like that, I know he wouldn’t want to.”

“By that logic, if you had told him,” Elesa said, head tilted. “Then he probably wouldn’t have gotten pushy, right?”

“Yeah.” Burris clicked his tongue and nodded. “Yeah.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “But how do you even talk about that? About what happened? There’s a reason I’ve been avoiding all of this, I thought I was alright with Robby and just… avoiding _that_.”

Robby’s ears twitched as Burris patted the Dewott’s head.

“Which seems out of the picture now,” Elesa chided a little. Burris blushed.

“S-sure, if I can find him again.”

Elesa chuckled. “We’ll get to that point.” She pushed herself off the ground with a grunt. “And judging by your argument he stands to learn a couple of things himself, too.” She hummed and tapped her chin. As it stands, however; you’re not alone through all of this.” She turned and walked away from Burris, only pausing to grab her PokeNav. With a few taps, the lights above began to shut down, darkness following Elesa as she walked away.

“You have your family. You have your friends.” Her voice projected as she got close to the stairs. “Without Helena, I doubt I would have survived being homeless in Unova. Without my dad, I probably wouldn’t have lived through the Kanto war, either.” 

Her shoes clicked against the metal staircases.

“The reality is, Burris, that we all shine brighter when we have others to rely on, when we don’t face our darkness and fears alone.” The gym remained dark for a few seconds before spotlights started to turn on. Burris held his hand over his eyes as he stood up, white light surrounding him. Jorge squawked at a similar light, burning orange eyes following other circular lights spinning around him in multiple colors.

His eyes moved away from the colors to stare down Helena, a similar dazzling array of lights surrounding her position back on the battlefield.

“And it’s not just your family and friends you have either. You have your Pokemon. You have Robby, Jorge, and the rest of your team.”

Robby chittered and took a few steps towards the field in response. Elesa waved a finger.

“Jorge is, legally, the last Pokemon Burris is allowed to use.” Elesa and Burris chuckled a little at the steaming Dewott. 

Elesa’s smirk hid the fact that she had broken so many regulations here that Wallace would have her head. If he weren’t desperate.

“And believe me, I wouldn’t let a kid use a Dewott back in Unova against me, that doesn’t change in Hoenn.”

Robby crossed his arms and huffed.

“You can stay by Burris’ side and cheer, though.”

Robby thought for a moment then met eyes with Burris, who smiled.

“I wouldn’t mind.”

“Anyway, Burris!” Elesa brought her hands to her side and raised her voice. “This is still a gym battle, and I want to see just how spectacularly you and Jorge can shine in unison! I want to see just how bright you and your Pokemon’s fire can burn away the darkness and light your way forward.”

Burris’ grin grew a bit wider. 

“Jorge?”

A spark, a fire had returned to Burris’ eyes, one that the bags underneath couldn’t weigh down.

“You ready?”

Jorge met Burris’ look with a fiery gaze of his own, Cell Battery dangling from his neck. Jorge felt Helena’s sharp gaze bury into the back of his mind.

Jorge met her look with one of his own, rolling his shoulders and feeling the pressure run through his veins like fire.

He stepped into the center of the spinning spotlights, the weight of his world pressing down on his shoulders.

“Wild Charge!” 

Helena’s fur sparked to life, an orb of shining yellow light charging towards Jorge.

“Jorge, Bulk Up!”

Jorge stared down the incoming storm. He shut his eyes, tuning out all distractions. He breathed in, feeling the adrenaline and pressure pumping into his muscles. 

He breathed out and opened his eyes, a wall of crackling yellow drowning his vision. With a squawk, he shot his arms out. Beak gritted, he dug his claws in as electricity circulated through his body. Helena’s charging hooves grew slower and slower, the seemingly unstoppable freight train coming to a stop.

Jorge felt the electricity bounce from the battery hanging around his neck, veins popping out of his legs and forearms and electricity and fire dancing in his eyes.

Helena blinked as she came to a stop, Jorge standing strong and grinning. 

Robby chirped and shot a fist up.

“Flame Charge!” 

Flames danced around Jorge, legs pumping as he charged forth. Helena snorted and jumped to the side, whining as flames licked her fresh bite wound.

Still, Elesa barked out another order. She smirked as she saw Helena spin around, back hooves raised and aiming to lash out at Jorge.

It’d be cheap if she’d just let Burris win, after all.

“Duck!” Jorge chirped and bent down, feeling the wind off of Helena’s legs. “Double Kick!”

Jorge flipped away from Helena, planting his hands in the ground and leaving his legs straight in the air. Helena galloped in closer.

She screeched at the feeling of Jorge’s claw-like feet slamming into her face. The Zebstrika stumbled backwards, her legs making jagged motions. 

“Flame Charge!”

In unison the trainers gave their orders, and in unison the pokemon charged forth. Flames wrapped around their bodies, the faint smell of melting rubber wafting into the air as they slammed into each other. The twin fireballs bounced around the room to a chorus of orders; to your left, to your right.

Robby’s chirping cheers could barely be heard above the chaos. Jorge found himself flung out of his flaming orb by a strong side smash from Helena’s own. His chest heaved up and down after coming to a screeching stop a few yards away, bruises dotting his body.

Burris saw Helena charge forth, electricity crackling around him, and an idea formed. Helena had more bruises and cuts than Jorge, if nothing else.

“Rock Tomb!”

Jorge clucked, and he slammed his right foot into the ground. Jagged rocks jutted out of the rubbery surface, sending black tattered pieces of the surface and Helena flying into the air. Eyes widened, she wiggled her legs around in an effort to do _something_.

Even if it didn’t mean much in the end.

“Bulk Up!” Burris felt his heart race as Jorge slowed down to a crawl, mind and body working in conjunction to strengthen his muscles, give him enough for one last decisive blow because Burris _needed_ something to go right, _needed_ Jorge to come through in the clutch and-

“Double Kick!”

Jorge opened his eyes, calm gaze meeting Helena’s own. One leg kicked him off the ground, giving him just enough leverage and getting him just close enough to slam the other leg into Helena’s hide. 

The Zebstrika crashed into the ground, the center of the field now a crater with a horse and rubber tatters in the middle of it. Jorge dropped down to the ground, beak gaping open for air and focus entirely on his opponent. 

Helena raised her head above the crater once and then plopped it back down onto the ground. Burris stood still, arms outstretched into the sky.

Robby mimicked his trainer.

A moment later Helena vanished into a stream of red light. Elesa’s shoes clacked against the metal staircase.

“JORGE!” Burris shouted. Jorge turned around just in time to be scooped up into Burris’ arms. The adrenaline left his body, the aches and bruises making themselves known in a throbbing fashion.

Still, Jorge smiled. He looked down at Robby. The Dewott crossed his arms and smirked back.

Elesa made her presence apparent with a laugh. “I… can’t say I’ve had a gym battle like that before,” she commented, holding a yellow TM disk and a golden lightning bolt-shaped badge between her fingers.

“I’d hope you wouldn’t have.” Burris placed Jorge down. His fatigue made itself known once again, but the anxiety and self-doubt didn’t come with it this time. He shrugged. “I mean I hope I wouldn’t either.”

Elesa put on a warm smile and offered both items to Burris. He looked down at the badge, the metal warm in his hands.

“With a performance like that one?” Elesa said. She crossed her arms, a wide grin evident on her face. “I don’t think you’ll need to.”

“I still need to talk to Wally though… and my parents,” Burris said, looking down at his two companions. Robby poked one of Jorge’s bruises, earning him a solid smack from the Combusken for his troubles. “You two are ridiculous.”

“You had an emotional meltdown and still came back and beat Helena,” Elesa explained, hands on her hips. “And even though you still have plenty to do and plenty to _actually talk about_.”

Elesa’s glare returned for a moment.

“Yeah, I know,” Burris mumbled.

Elesa smiled again.

“You can handle that and damn near anything the world can throw at you, as far as I’m concerned.”

She bent down and ruffled Jorge and Robby’s heads

“With your Pokemon and friends by your side, of course.” 

Burris followed suit, the warmth of Jorge’s feathers and the dampness of Robby’s fur between his fingers.

“Of course.” 

Burris yawned, eyes shut and covering his mouth. With the other hand, he rubbed his eyes. 

Elesa stood up. “I’ll take care of the PokeCenter stuff, let’s get you to a bed.”

-

The door shut behind him with a click. Elesa went on her way, both of their teams in hand to the PokeCenter. Burris considered objecting, but none of his Pokemon were seriously hurt. He felt the bags underneath his eyes, the fuzziness in his mind, and the aches of his muscles.

For once in the past few days, he realized as he approached the side of his bed, his mind didn’t rattle with thoughts. Didn’t prick at him with his self-doubt, his anxieties, and his secrets.

Deep down, he knew there was more to do. And he knew Wally would need to learn, too. But at the least he felt like his head was on straight, that past wounds weren’t being ripped open by someone too naive for Burris’ own good and feeding into a self-destructive loop of anxiety, doubt, and self-loathing.

And there would be a time and place to address that with Wally. But not now.

He plopped down on the bed and crawled onto the soft, warm comforter. A welcoming sensation. Fatigue set in quicker than ever, his eyes drifting shut and allowing the inviting grip of sleep to slowly take hold.

He smiled just a little before slipping into his dreams, shoes still on his feet and snoring filling the room.


	20. Shining Beauty

Elesa stared at the collection of pills in her hand. One big blue one, assorted small white ones, an orange one… The doctor had explained what each of them had done individually years back but Elesa had mostly forgotten the specifics.

They kept Dad ok. She scoffed. Whatever the hell “okay” meant for him now, anyway. She pushed the door open into the quiet room, snoring Raichu curled up in his pet bed. 

He opened one eye to determine that it was Elesa, before yawning and dozing off again. Elesa smiled for the briefest of moments before nudging Dad awake.

“Uh?” He turned to face the pills. “Right, right.” His voice hardly above a whisper, hardly a fit for the former gym leader and lieutenant. 

At some point Elesa would’ve handed him the pills and water, at some point Elesa would’ve said open wide before dumping the pills and water into his mouth now, but it all went unsaid nowadays. Not much of a point.

Elesa checked the clear medical bag hanging off of a metal poll, feeding Dad the nutrients he needed to stay alive.

“Do you need anything, Dad?” she asked.

“Nono,” Lt. Surge said. He gave a little wave; about the extent of his movement nowadays. Elesa knew she’d need to take him out for a walk at some point soon before he got bed sores. “I’m good, I’m good.”

“… Okay,” Elesa said. At some point in the past Elesa would’ve pressed with an “Are you sure?” but she was pretty sure they had both given up on this not being the standard for “okay” now. She turned towards the door, hand hovering above the light switch. “I love you.”

“Love you too, buttercup.” 

The lights went out, the door shut with a click. At some point in the future Elesa knew there’d be a last time. A last medicine check, a last walk, a last moment for the two of them. 

Even all of the Juniper Foundation’s advancements in medicine couldn’t prevent her dad’s liver from giving out from years of pills. Some small part of her wanted to shout at Aile about it, but what good would it do? Besides, Volkner had already accepted he wouldn’t see Dad again.

Elesa knew he could carve out the time even with a Gym Leader’s schedule. Elesa knew Volkner wanted to remember Dad when he was close to his best. He just didn’t want to.

Elesa couldn’t blame him.

-

The hustle and bustle of Mauville sat down below, workers coming and going as usual. Elesa said with a newspaper wrapped up in her lap, a lit cigarette in her mouth, and the sounds of workers clearing a landslide behind her house. The usual; rocks loved to block people from travelling north, though some were small enough that a muscular pokemon could break through.

She tore the rubber band off the paper. Long ago newspapers had given up on daily issues due to the internet, but they had managed to find a way to survive in one very small niche; long-form writing. People on the internet hated to read for more than five seconds evidently, but Elesa had become accustomed to reading in her quiet time.

“Transformers; Taboo or the New Normal?” Elesa muttered, eyes narrowed. She skimmed the text; something about some parent’s organization back in Kanto protesting the “humanization” of robots, claiming people were forgetting-

She scoffed. People didn’t forget about the fucking war. No harm was done by fictional robots with catchphrases. It wasn’t like the show was going to start another crisis like the one her dad fought in. She turned the page, eyes traveling over the walls of text looking for something of note. Her eyes landed on “DEVON CORP’S RECENT RESEARCH: AN INVESTIGATION” before she felt something small and warm on her head. She flicked the stub of her cigarette off to the great beyond before some of her hairs stuck up from the static..

She looked up and saw a Plusle’s big black eyes staring back down at her. 

“Huh. You’re not one of the gym ones,” Elesa said. She reached up with a lone finger to scratch him between his ears. “Burris had one, I remember seeing the name…” She hummed for a moment while the Plusle squeaked with approval. “Right, you’re Axel.”

Axel nodded and chirped. 

“Figured out how to open the door to Burris’ room by yourself?” Elesa said. She smiled. “Most people would be surprised, but I guess most people don’t give your kind much credit, do they?”

Axel crossed his arms and pouted. Elesa chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t agree either. I’ve got a Plusle and a Minun I use in my earlier gym matches, you see.” Axel’s ears perked up while Elesa paused to fold up the paper. “They’re not an Onix or a Nosepass or some fossil thing so people tend to underestimate them.” She chuckled and grabbed Axel off of her head, the short fur soft on her hands.

Elesa dropped him onto her lap and the Plusle sat down facing her.

“So the new trainers come in, see the Plusle or Minun and think that they’ve got it made, then…” Elesa snapped her fingers. “Zap.”

Axel nodded his approval, crossing his arms. Elesa patted his coarser hair on the top of his head. 

“So yeah, Plusle and Minun deserve a bit more credit than what they get,” Elesa said. With a region packed with electric types like Magnezone and Manetric, trainers tended to overlook the twin species as legitimate options. Hell, some of the luckier ones who did a little more digging around 108 could find a Joltik nest, and there were more than a few extremely remote islands with rarer electric types too.

Elesa blinked as her thoughts traveled back to the Plusle in her lap. She dug through her pocket for her PokeNav, blue screen displaying today’s schedule after a few taps. “Hm, there’s a couple of newbies.” The device vanished back into her gray sweatpants as soon as it came.

“Wanna tag along? I could show you just what I’m talking about here.” Plus with Burris being tired to the point of sleeping with his shoes on, Axel wasn’t doing much else for the next few hours.

Axel placed a small hand under his mouth. After a second, he squeaked and scrambled up to Elesa’s shoulders. 

“Cool. I could probably get some of my veteran trainers to teach you a few tricks if you wanted.” She grunted and bent backwards, hands on her hips. Way too damn stiff. She felt a gentle cool breeze afterwards and sighed contently.

Sometimes, it was the small things in life that mattered. Especially now. She rolled her neck and walked back inside, wood cool and damp on her bare feet.

“Damn, these two hours flew by,” she muttered. The door clicked shut, leaving nothing but the newspaper and the faint smell of smoke on the porch.


	21. Burden

The room around Burris blurred into view. He blinked the colored smudges, wincing at the rays of sun through his window.

He felt the weight on his feet, the well-worn shoes he had worn from Littleroot. The soles seemed to hang on by threads He yawned and sat upright, bed creaking against his movements. He glanced at his bed stand, six poke balls of various varieties laid out haphazardly. 

Burris grunted and stretched his arms above his head, mind still grappling with being awake. More precisely, being awake after a sound sleep.

He grinned. There was still work to do- he had to call his parents- but he felt like he had enough energy to take on the world. Even the ugly parts.

 

His black belt went on with a click. His capsules and PokeNav slid into place.

“Suppose Elesa’s downstairs.”

-

The elevator doors opened up to the familiar scent of Elesa’s mac and cheese, which was evidently 95% of her diet. He rolled his neck and considered just what to do now. Talking to his parents was a good first step, but then there was catching up to where Wally had gone off to and-

“Hello, sleeping beauty.”

Burris stopped at the edge of the dining room. Elesa sat legs crossed, bowl and spoon filled with pasta, cheese stringing off to a side. Just off to her side was a Plusle with his face buried in another similar bowl. Axel peeked up, butter and cheese stuck to his face as well as a stray noodle.

“You’re feeding my Plusle mac and cheese?” Burris rubbed the back of his head.

“All electric types like it, it’s a fact.” She had that tone of voice that suggested she was equally likely to be full of shit or to actually be, by some miracle, spot on. Burris shrugged. 

“Even Magnemite?”

“They eat berries and pastries like any other pokemon, don’t they?” Elesa’s eyes followed Burris to him pulling out a seat only feet away.

“Point.” Burris grabbed a paper towel and smushed it all over Axel’s face. Muffled squeaks of protest followed and Burris could feel a light tingle in his fingers. “Oh come on, you can’t eat like a Tepig and not expect this to happen.”

Axel rubbed a red mark on his face and muttered what Burris could guess was some equivalent to obscenities.

“Well he’s had a big day and all.” Elesa set her empty spoon back down with a clink, chewing on her bite. “Took him to the gym; had him see some matches, had my trainers teach him a thing or two.”

Burris blinked. He glanced at Axel and the Plusle returned it with a big grin and happy chirp. “Huh. Well if he liked it, I guess that’s cool.” The boy twiddled his thumbs for a few seconds, staring at the floor. Questions from before popped back into his mind before he sighed. “So yeah. What now?”

Elesa swallowed her food. “Well, what do you think?”

“Talking with my parents, for starters.” He looked up and met Elesa’s gaze. “ _Actually_ talking to them.”

Elesa smirked and crossed her arms. “Solid start.”

“Yeah.” Burris nodded and clasped his hands. “Yeah.” He clicked his tongue. “But what about Wally?”

“What about him?”

“Are you-“ Burris started in an annoyed tone before shaking his head. “Look, I doubt he’s going to return my texts or calls, and I don’t even know where to begin on how to catch up with him or what I’d even say if I did and-“

“I could help you out with that.”

“But you said I-“

Elesa held up a finger and opened her mouth to speak, moments before Axel stuffed his face back into his bowl of pasta. She snorted and laughed.

“Ok. Sorry. That was funny.” She coughed. “But what I was _going_ to say is; there’s no shame in getting help tackling your issues here.”

“Right, right,” Burris said in a quiet tone. She had said that plenty of times earlier. He stretched his arm above his head and tilted his head. “But… color me confused; how exactly?”

“Well, I know Aile knows and likes Wally a ton,” Elesa said. She rolled her eyes; lord knows Aile wouldn’t shut up about the little guy. “Foundation work, I think.”

“Oh. That…” Burris hummed and tapped his chin, eyes drifting towards Axel, face yet again a mess of cheese and grease. “That makes sense, he mentioned that.”

Elesa crossed her arms. “And besides; your grandma and I have a knack for problem solving.”

-

Time passed, and Elesa retreated to her room. Helena snored on the fluffy blue carpeting while Elesa fiddled around with her PokeNav. The light reflected off of her face, highlighting her few wrinkles. Elesa paused her finger just a centimeter above Aile’s contact listing, her name right next to a picture of a younger Elesa trapping the other girl in an angry headlock.

Elesa’s eyes drifted up to the ceiling, mind calculating the time difference. 

“It’s Aile and it’s me, who cares,” she muttered. A tap and a ring tone later and Aile’s face popped up on the screen. Her long hair went whichever way it pleased, her eyes half opened as she yawned.

“Wake up call, bitch,” Elesa said with a smirk.

“Somehow you’re a shittier alarm than my actual one,” Aile said. She rubbed her eyes with her right hand and smacked her lips. Then she blinked twice before her eyes widened. “Shit, this isn’t about your dad is it?”

“No,” Elesa said, then sighed. “Not yet.”

“Well that’s-“

“- it’s about Burris.”

Aile froze before her eyes narrowed. She tensed up, anger flaring in her eyes. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No? He’s ok now, if you’re asking.”

“ _Now?_ ”

“Well.” Elesa sighed. “Guess I’ll take this one from the top.”

Aile’s eyes remained glued to the screen but otherwise barely budged as Elesa explained the situation. How Wally got too close, how he crossed a line or two with Burris, how Burris… well, how he imploded. Finally, Elesa stopped.

“So yeah, I had to verbally bitch slap him a bit. He’s on his own two feet now, at the least.”

Aile exhaled after what seemed like an eternity.

“Ok. I just.” She crossed her arms in an X before motioning outward. “Early morning calls on the topic of my grandchildren.” Pausing, Aile tilted her head and bit her lip. “Yeah. Not a good history.” The slightest of smiles returned to her face. “But thanks for that. Burris locks up when it comes to that subject, and while I can’t blame him…”

“I am speaking to the queen of “not talking about her problems” here,” Elesa chided. She slid up to a sitting position, PokeNav in her lap and hands supporting her chin. “I can’t say I’m that surprised one of your grandkids got that trait.”

“And I can’t say I’m surprised you knocked some sense into him too,” Aile said. She flashed Elesa a questioning look. “You didn’t like. Punch him into a wall, did you?”

“That’s only for you, sweetie,” Elesa said, making a kissy face and noise.

Aile laughed and rubbed her nose. “I think it’s still crooked from that.” She hummed and blinked, mind going back to Wally. “… also I appreciate the heads up on Burris here, but you mentioned Wally?”

“Yeaaaaaah. Talented trainer but that kid just…” Elesa’s head clunked against her solid oak headboard. “Damn, how dense do you have to be to do that?”

Silence set in while Aile’s head waved back and forth, mind rummaging for just what to say. “I’d be lying if that didn’t sound about right, honestly.”

“Mmm?” Elesa shrugged. “If you say so.”

“Yeah. Not like he had biological parents worth a shit.” Aile rolled her eyes. “Which I can sympathize with.”

“Your biological parents are in an entirely different plane of assholery,” Elesa pointed out. “Between what happened in Kanto and Unova and all of that…”

“Yeah yeah, don’t think I’ve fucking forgotten about my mom,” Aile said, bordering on a hiss. “At least my dad had the dignity to die in Kanto.”

“Mhmm,” Elesa said. She paused to rub her eyes and glanced over at Helena, belly raising up and down as she snoozed in her black and white pet bed. She blinked. “Right, so… how do you think Liliana is going to handle that?”

“Handle what?”

Elesa raised an eyebrow. “You told me how she reacted to Burris-“

“Oh.” Aile said. Then her eyes widened. “ _Oh_.” She rubbed the back of her head. “Yeaaaaaah.”

-

Axel dozed off, curled up at the foot of Burris’ bed. Robby and Jorge joined the little guy in a sitting position, heads clunked together. Jonesy and Madison were curled up together on the floor, Terri sleeping with her head on the wall, lilypad shielding her eyes from accidental sources of light.

Burris scrolled through his PokeNav and found his parents numbers. With two flicks, he sent Dad and Mom’s numbers into a small video call box. He tapped the green “yes” button when prompted, and his screen turned to black. Dad showed up on one half first; sitting at his desk, wrapping up some paperwork for the evening before heading home. Mom showed up second, the red wood of the shed out back behind her. Leliana could be seen chasing down a pair of rowdy Petilils, wrestling over what appeared to be a pecha berry.

Their snarls were kind of cute.

“Burris, hi!” Liliana said.

“Hey son!” Eli chimed in. “How’s it going?”

Burris maintained a faint smile, but sighed. Eli and Liliana’s moods dropped almost in sync.

“Well…”

The explanation went on. Burris couldn’t help but be somewhat surprised at the lack of immediate reaction from both sets of parents. Eli had his hands clasped in front of his face. Liliana had barely moved, though her eyes widened slightly.

“So, yeah. That’s… that’s that,” Burris said, then sighed.

“I… see.” It was a borderline pained “I see” from Eli, one that clearly asked Burris why he hadn’t said anything sooner. Silence set in, both boys turning to Liliana who began to shake slightly.

Then, “Wally _WHAT?_ ” Liliana screeched, bringing the Petilil battle behind her to a screeching halt. The Lilligant scooped up the duo and looked towards the camera with a mild degree of worry. “Unbelievable, how stupid, how _moronic_ do you have to be to do that to someone!?”

Burris sighed. “Mom that could’ve been avoided if-“

“Look, sweetheart, I don’t like it either,” Eli interjected and shook his head. “But Wally’s parents didn’t teach him shit, it wasn’t him being a-“

“I don’t _care_ , Eli,” Liliana said, voice cold and gaze fierce. It was enough to send a slight chill down Burris’ spine and a glance at Eli suggested he was pretty ok with working later tonight. “He should’ve asked regardless!”

“And I should’ve told him what happened to begin with,” Burris grumbled, rubbing his forehead. Eli and Liliana went silent, Liliana’s gaze turning from cold to worry. “And… you guys on this, too,” he continued, voice dropping a few (octaves). “I just…” He pursed his lips. 

“Just?” Eli asked.

Burris sighed, his breath wavering. “I just didn’t want to be a burden. Again.”

A few moments passed in silence.

“Burris, sweetie, no!” Liliana spoke up, hands clasped together. Her Lilligant had taken to peaking over her trainer’s shoulder. “I’m not going to lie and say it wasn’t trying times after the hospital trip, but we’re _family_. You’re our _son_.”

“It’s what parents are supposed to do,” Eli said. “I can understand not wanting to talk about something like that, but we don’t want for you to just suffer alone over this.” He sighed and looked at the ground. “And I know we had our arguments back then too and things got stressful, but I do want to be there for things like this too.”

“Right,” Burris said. “Thanks.” He nodded, a smile creeping across his face. “I’ll… make sure to keep you guys in the loop on this. Promise.”

Eli’s smile almost matched Burris’. “We’ll hold you to it.”

Liliana opened her mouth moments before Jack nudged his way on screen, the Samurott barking into the screen. In a flash, Robby sprung up from his sleeping position and scurried over to Burris’ side. 

“Oh, Robby evolved!” Liliana said. Robby flexed a little and Jack chuckled in response. 

“Yeah, he did,” Burris said. Robby nuzzled into Burris free hand. “I think he’ll be a cool Samurott someday.”

Robby squeaked with approval. Jack rumbled and nodded.

“I think Jack agrees,” Liliana replied

-

“Wally respond?”

Aile looked up into the camera again and yawned.

“Yeah. Told me he was closing in on Fallarbor now. He wanted to spend a week or so around there, meet Dr. Cozmo, see Meteor Falls, all of that.”

“The one doctor odder than Birch,” Elesa said with a chuckle. “But we know where he is now.”

“Yeah,” Aile said. She hummed and crossed her arms. Her face took on a contemplative look. “I… think I should go ahead of Burris to chat with Wally.”

Elesa raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I’ll ask Burris about it of course, I just….” Aile clicked her tongue. “I just think it’s better for me to tackle some of the more uncomfortable things there.”

“Like how not to push boundaries and about Burris-’” Elesa waved her free hand around.

“- about the ex and the hospital thing, yeah.” Aile tapped her chin. Her mind grasped at something, something that felt like it could be important and yet- “Oh, right. Can you do one more favor for Burris?”

“I mean after all of this? One more favor isn’t a big deal,” Elesa said.

“You still have that studio downstairs? The one where you can buy and generate clothes and all of that?”

Elesa raised an eyebrow. “Yeah.” Young aspiring models still approached her on a semi frequent basis and grandpa’s old mansion had more room than she really knew what to do with, so… “You want me to-“

“- take Burris down there, yeah.”

“Huh.” Elesa crossed her arms. “Can’t say he struck me as the clothes type, but alright.”

-

“You have a what, exactly?” 

A half an hour or so later and Burris rode down the elevator with Elesa. The low hum of the descending metal box provided background noise.

“A studio. I don’t model anymore but I still help out aspiring models in my spare time,” Elesa said. Then she laughed and shook her head. “You’d be surprised how many of them are younger guys that look up to Wallace.”

“I mean, I can see it. He has a stiffer personality but he’s always wearing something fabulous.” Burris chuckled and rubbed the back of his head a faint red blush on his cheeks. “And I kinda like the more low key personality, honestly.”

“Oh?~” A glimmer appeared in Elesa’s eyes, not unlike Aile when she was about to give Burris shit and goddammit. “Maybe we should help you hit him up instead.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Lisia could use a stepdad.” Elesa rolled her shoulders with exaggeration and tapped her chin. “I don’t know if Wallace likes younger men though.”

“I don’t know either but… lets not find out,” Burris said, rolling his eyes. He had enough regret from letting it slip to Elesa, he’d never hear the end of it from his dad. Then again, Burris wasn’t sure if it’d be Dad making fun of Burris or Dad threatening to put Wallace’s balls in a wood chipper if he did anything funny with him. Or both. Maybe both.

The elevator provided some semblance of mercy and shuddered to a stop. The doors slid open to reveal a dark space. Burris squinted. “So where’s the light-“

Elesa clapped her hands and the lights clicked on, not unlike the ceiling lights from the gym. A small catwalk, white with a large circle at the end of a shorter walkway, sat to the left. A makeup station, complete with a massive mirror and an ungodly array of makeup tools sat in the center. To the right, what appeared to be a large single stall changing station with a gray door blocking Burris’ view. A few outfits sat on the wall nearby in glass cases.

“You wore a wig?” Burris asked, pointing at the second one. A headset modeled like Plusle and Minun sat next to the black wig, twin tails curling down from the shorter black cut.

“A few, I’m just particularly fond of that one,” Elesa said. “The first and second ones I wore frequently back when I was starting out as a gym leader,” she continued. She grabbed a tablet nearby, a plain thing with a half black and half yellow backing. Burris peered over her shoulder when the screen flashed to life. 

“Let’s see… male, young adult…” She murmured and tapped before looking down at Burris. “Mmmm… 5’8’’, 190?”

“Uh… close enough, I think.” It had been some time since Burris weighed himself, though he knew he had built up a bunch of muscle through travelling. Elesa nodded and an array of options came up on screen. Shoes, shirts, pants. You named it, it was there. “Can we start with shirts?”

“Sure.” It didn’t really matter what order they went in anyway; Burris’ clothes all looked pretty worn down.

“... you know, it’s been awhile since I’ve done something like this.” Burris said, scanning the shirts. He tapped on one; a subdued pink shirt. Tighter and it’d wick away sweat too.

“Oh?” Elesa said. With a couple of taps, the shirt formed from nothing but blue streams of data before plopping down in Burris’ hands.

“Yeah. Probably been three years or so.” Burris tilted his head, mind thinking of the significance for a few moments before it struck him. “Since before I last dated.”

“Explains why you need new stuff, then,” Elesa said.

“Yeah.” Burris nodded. “Yeah.” He vanished with a click into the changing station. “Well, I hadn’t been picking for myself anyway.” He paused and took his shirt off, pale body contrasting with his tanned arms.” “I still like to do it, though.”

“I’m not judging,” Elesa remarked, sitting down on a bench outside. “Guys can pick their outfits as well as girls.”

“Well.” Burris clicked his tongue. “When I started to date him, he kinda just… gradually took over that, I guess.” His tone dropped. “It started out simple enough; suggestions, what looked cute, so on and so forth.” 

“Then he pushed it?” Elesa said, proposing a question they both knew the answer to.

Burris paused, red t-shirt now in a crumpled pile on the ground. He glanced at the mirror just long enough to get a glimpse at the scar on his back.

“Yeah. I didn’t think anything of it at first, but he pushed me to hang out with his friends more, pushed me to always go with his decision on dates…” He hugged himself, rubbing his shoulders and looking away from the mirror. He grabbed the new shirt, feeling the soft fresh pink fabric between his fingers. “My family didn’t like him at all and it got worse over time. I had convinced myself that, well.” He sighed. “That they were wrong. Happened with my old friends too.”

Elesa’s head bumped gently against the padded wall, designed to absorb sounds to prevent echoing. .

“I didn’t think it was on purpose at first… and then I started to push back.” Burris shuddered at the chill going up his spine. “He started getting madder, we started getting into arguments more and more. It…”

“He wanted you for himself and had no qualms about destroying you to have you,” Elesa replied, tone cold. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes. 

Silence set in. Another look in the mirror and Burris realized how very vulnerable he looked. The warmth of the new shirt was a welcome comfort blanket. 

“Yeah. Yeah. He did it on purpose.” Burris felt rage bubbling up, body tensing and heating up. Like father like son. “I just…” His rage subsided as quickly as it came, Burris slouching over on the bench. “Didn’t see it until too late.” 

“We want to see the best in people we care about,” Elesa said.

“He was evil.” It almost surprised Burris how easily it slipped out. Another second or two of silence felt like an eternity. “I’d say that was out of line, but he sent me to the hospital.” Burris clenched the edge of the bench, the privacy of the changing booth feeling very much like loneliness.

Burris unlocked the door and swore he heard it crack against the wall after swinging it open.

“That said!” Burris clapped his hands and sat down next to Elesa. “What else do you have in here?” 

Elesa smiled and showed the tablet to Burris. “Well I think light blue shoes work well with the pink, but… you decide.”

Burris peered at the screen. He squinted his eyes and rubbed his chin. “I like these shorts, I think…” He tapped a pair of cozy blue gym shorts and they popped into life, much like the shirt earlier. Burris caught a glimpse of a white screen, showing the charge to Elesa’s credit card. “Wait, you don’t have to pay-“

“Burris, between grandpa and dad, Volkner and I both have more money than we know what to do with,” Elesa said. She nodded. “And even if I wasn’t that rich… it’d still be worth it.” She put the tablet down on the black wood. “Burris, sometimes it’s the simple things that keep us sane. Buying outfits, reading the newspaper…” She gestured upwards with both hands. “They might seem so insignificant to an outside observer. Why do they matter so much?”

“… because we need something to get through the tougher days,” Burris muttered. “Clothes, Pokemon…”

“And there’s not a price tag you can put on that.”


	22. That

The rain pattered outside on a cool Hoenn summer evening. Liliana sat on the couch, Leiliana in her lap and cup of tea in her hands. She sipped it for no more than a moment of the time, the heat still almost searing her tongue. 

She felt the Lilligant adjust herself in the warm blankets in her lap and patted the plant. Liliana leaned her head back onto the couch, letting the sound of rain ease her mind. Eli would be home soon enough, and they hadn’t quite finished their discussion over Wally earlier.

The tea cup rumbled on the table, just enough to cause Jack to wake and raise his head. The Samurott met Liliana’s gaze with a stern one of his own. She heard a concerned squeak from her lap.. Liliana exhaled, attempting to control her anger. “Sorry Leia, I’m just…” Her head plopped back against the couch again. “Not in the greatest mood.” Eli hadn’t exactly been happy either, but-

She felt his presence at the door moments before the lock clicked open. A Starmie floated by his side, red gem glowing in the center of two purple stars. No one was entirely certain how Staryu picked up a second star upon evolution. A light red barrier surrounded Eli, rain drops rolling of it onto the floor before it faded.

“And to think we still buy raincoats,” Eli chuckled. Perceptor hummed in agreement, following its owner to the couch. Liliana and Leia bounced as Eli plopped down onto the couch. Silence set in, Liliana’s cheeks puffed and Eli twiddling his thumbs.

“So, about Wally.” Eli had learned long ago there was no reason to beat around the bush with his wife. He glanced up at Liliana who looked away. “I think we should let Burris make his own decision there.”

Liliana snorted. “Look at where we ended up the last time that happened,” she said in a low voice, hardly above a whisper. Her eyes wavered as she looked at Eli. “Do we want that again?”

The Lilligant chirped at Liliana and nuzzled into her stomach, feeling the warmth and nervousness radiating off of her.

Eli wrapped an arm around Liliana’s shoulder. “No, god no.” Eli bit his lip. “But I can vouch for Wally, Aile can too. This wasn’t malicious!” Eli raised his voice ever so slightly. He knew he couldn’t truly convince her, but Burris needed to make his own decisions about romance and love. “He’s just…”

“A dumbass?” Liliana said with bite, eyes cold. 

“Well, yes.” Eli sighed. His hand rubbed Liliana’s shoulder. “But Wally needs to learn and Burris does too and…” Eli shrugged and clicked his tongue. “Maybe it’s best if they learn together.” He felt his wife’s eyes burrow straight through his mind and into his soul. Eli shook his head and looked into Liliana’s fierce gaze. “Burris can’t be alone forever, sweetie.”

Liliana deflated, her stone cold gaze giving way to teary eyes. “I know he can’t,” she whispered. “I know.” She nodded, saw Perceptor and Jack observing with interest on the floor nearby. “I just…” Her hug tightened around Leia. “What if Wally hurts him again?” Her voice quaked. “Even unintentionally?”

Eli shrugged. “I guess that’s just a part of life.” He blinked at how easy that slipped out. He felt Liliana shake, facing the floor and Leia again. “It’s not the most comforting thought, but we can’t protect Burris from everything. And besides…” He rolled his eyes at the thought of using Aile as a judge of character, but desperate times called for desperate measures. “If Wally had done it on purpose Aile’d be beating the shit out of him.”

Liliana blinked and shook her head at Eli.

“Are you seriously going to debate this with me?” he asked with a half-chuckle. 

“… no,” Liliana said. She rubbed her arms and shook her head. “I…” Eli could tell Liliana had something else to say, but she paused and forced a little smile. “… guess.”

A timid “I guess”, but good enough. “Besides, there’s nothing stopping you from quizzing Wally incessantly or digging into his head,” Eli continued on. He rubbed the back of his head. “If it comes to, well, that.” 

“That,” Liliana said, almost spat, then laughed and shook her head. “It sounds so simple when put that way.” 

“But it’s worth it, isn’t it?” Eli scooted closer, grinning and looking down at his wife.

Liliana’s smile came in full. “I suppose when you put it that way…” Her right hand moved away from Leia onto Eli’s thigh. “You can put the blanket on too, you know.”

Jack snorted and stared at Eli, judgement in his eyes.

“Oh come on, we’ve been married for two decades,” Eli said, right arm outstretched and palm facing up. “You’re still going to give me that shit?”

Perceptor hummed and chimed in conjunction, red light flashing at Eli rapidly.

“My own pokemon betrays me,” Eli said. He rubbed his temples and sighed, Liliana’s giggling hitting his ears and warming his heart. Leia hopped off on the floor moments before Liliana leaned in and pressed her lips to Eli’s cheek.

“Oh don’t listen to them, they’re just curmudgeons.” Liliana withdrew and Jack rolled his eyes as her hand moved onto Eli’s chest. 

“At least they’re not Aile,” Eli said, eliciting an “aww” from Liliana.

“You know she means well,” Liliana said, tone adding “mostly” as subtext.

“I’ll have to take your word for it, then,” Eli replied. The sounds of rain grew louder for precious seconds, the pokemon opening the backdoor and exiting at a moment’s notice. Eli shook his head and laughed.

Eli’s hand moved over Liliana’s, feeling the smoothness of her skin. His heart pounded faster as he observed Liliana’s now beaming smile, smile and body borderline unaffected by time. He found himself staring like teenage him realizing just how enchanting his childhood friend was.

“Should we go upstairs?” Liliana said. She slipped out of Eli’s grasp and went for the stairs, mind calm and at ease.

It’d be ok.

Whatever Burris would decide, it’d be ok.

She gave Eli a lingering gaze before vanishing into the stairwell. Eli heard a light click on.

With a happy heart and a smile on his face, he locked down the house and shut the downstairs light off. 

Liliana would be ok. Burris would be too. And Sienna likewise.

And that meant the world and everything in it to him.


	23. Journey

The night came and went without a hitch. Burris adjusted the straps on his backpack, filled to the brim with new clothes. His eyes went to the trash bag in the corner of the room, stuffed with his old clothes and shoes.

He glanced down at his new shoes. A sleek combination of blue and white, a good enough match for his tight neon green shirt and black gym shorts. He counted his capsules on his belt, six in total. He snatched his PokeNav from the pile of blue blankets on his bed. In his groggy daze earlier, he had read that the landslide had been cleared.

Another roadblock out of the way. His finger lingered above the light switch for just a few moments as he looked around the room one last time.

The lights went out moments before the door clicked shut. A dull elevator ride and a few steps later, Burris found himself just feet away from the door. 

“Leaving?”

Elesa leaned on the opposite door frame. Burris could see just a glimpse of the living room behind her.

He stood up a little straight, hands grabbing at the black straps. 

“Yeah.”

Elesa smiled.

“You’ll do great, Burris.”

Elesa went on her way to prepare for another day of challengers, and Burris went on his own way out the door. The faint stickiness of the Hoenn summer lingered in the air and in his lungs as he breathed in. He didn’t hate the humidity, but he was looking forward to the arid Hoenn northwest.

Burris glanced up at the few puffy clouds forming in the skies; precursors to the forecasted afternoon showers. His shoes grinded against sand and gravel in the path, slightly large chunks of stone scattered about. Burris looked up at the mouth of the small valley blocking Mauville from the path northward and eyed the chunks of rubble with some annoyance.

Then he shook his head. They probably got stuck removing rubble once every other week. “I can’t blame them for not being perfect.” Burris took a few steps forward. “Especially with nature.”

He jumped as his PokeNav buzzed. “Grandma Aile?” Burris said. His eyes rolled upwards before he mouthed an “ah”. Elesa had probably talked to her already.

When Burris accepted the call, however, a small brown snout that was decidedly _not_ Aile’s greeted him. 

“Hello?” Burris asked, raising an eyebrow. The perpetrator lowered his head, revealing a pair of large black eyes designed to protect from the harsh desert sun. “Oh.” A Sandile. “Nick, hey there.”

Nick opened his maw wide, revealing his tiny pair of teeth at the top of his mouth. A far cry from his mom’s mouth, lined with razor sharp daggers that put Robby’s scallops to shame. Though still more intimidating than Nick’s brother-

“Oh right!” Burris fumbled around his belt and in a moment Jonesy appeared by Burris’ side. He looked up patiently, tail swishing as Burris bent down to his level.

Jonesy perked up at the sight of Nick on screen and waggled his tail. Nick tilted his head in confusion before Jonesy’s left ear flopped down over his face.

Burris sat down on a nearby boulder and watched Jonesy chat with Nick. It seemed like they were talking about the adventure, and judging by the incessant stream of growls and cries from Nick he seemed interested in-

“Nick!” A hollow metallic yell echoed from the other side of the screen, followed by loud clanging of heavy clawed legs. “Did your mother not teach you to not steal from Aile?” 

At this, a Metagross consumed the screen. Omega’s body had always been pristine, save the slender light blue line dividing his body neatly in half. With strangers it would elicit a question asking how a Metagross got scratched, and in response Omega would growl at them and tell them it was none of their business.

With a younger Sienna and Burris, he claimed it was an accident.

“Or did she merely teach you… how to use a phone,” Omega continued, then sighed at Nick’s hissing. “This is why I insist Aile send you with Kellie to Cheren’s school.”

“Hey there, old man,” Burris said, grin on his face. Omega’s red eyes widened.

“Ah, young m- Burris!” Omega said, chuckling to himself. “I suppose I’ve gotten better at catching myself there, mmmm?”

“And I appreciate that.” Being called “young master” made Burris feel like some spoiled rich kid. Even though two of those three words were kinda true. “I suppose even your old programming can learn new tricks.”

“I’ll have you know a Metagross can always improve his programming, no matter how old!” Omega objected, turning away from the camera with a huff. Jonesy chirped at Omega, shaking off his flopped over ear. “Ah… Jonesy, correct? A Sylveon.” The Metagross hummed in a way that sounded like mechanical whirling. “A fitting choice, given your father and trainer.”

Jonesy shut his eyes and yipped in approval. 

“And even more fitting given you’re the sibling that _behaves_ ,” Omega said, then glowered down at Nick. Nick cackled and Omega growled in response. “I should-“

“- who the fuck stole my transceiver?” Aile’s shout could be heard clear away. Her shoes clacked against the hard tile floor. “I swear to Arceus if it’s-“ Her jeans appeared on screen, separating Nick and Omega. The camera jostled for a brief second before giving Burris a clear view of Aile’s face, staring down at Nick. “Nick if you accidentally called Diantha again I’m tying your tail to a bedpost.”

Nick hissed his objection, but Aile ignored it in favor of Burris’ confused gaze.

“Hi Grandma!” Burris said. He felt the soft fur on Jonesy’s head as the Sylveon nudged his way onto the screen.

“Hi Burris! Sorry about my Sandile,” Aile said. She gritted her teeth and waggled her hand. “He gets a bit… antsy when Kellie’s off.”

“How did he even figure out to operate a phone?”

Aile shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Her eyes drifted over to Jonesy’s expectant gaze. “Oh! A Sylveon? A perfect evolution for a good boy.” Jonesy sat down and nodded with a proud bark. “I’d get Ravage and Kellie out here but Cheren wanted to teach the new kids about Dark types today…”

Omega’s footsteps echoed in the background, an annoyed Sandile being nudged along. “Come now! Back to your room!” Omega said, voice growing quieter and distant. Aile sighed.

“Can’t believe Ced’s old Metagross is that high strung,” she muttered. 

“Mhmm,” Burris replied. He crossed his legs and put his fist under his chin, mind considering the elephant in the room. Jonesy curled up on the grass, nose twitching as it swayed. “… did Elesa talk to you?”

Aile nodded. “Ah, yeah, she did.”

“Good.” Burris was more than relieved he didn’t have to run down all of _that_ again. “So…” He trailed off.

“So for the record,” Aile said, crossing her arms. She clicked her tongue. “You uh. Handled that better than I would’ve when I was your age.”

Burris tilted his head. “I’m…” He chuckled awkwardly. “Not really sure what to think about that.”

“Just believe me on that one,” Aile said. Her voice dropped a few noticeable decibels. “People do stupid shit like that all the time, it’s a matter of learning from it.” She rubbed her forearms. “Some… take longer than others.”

Burris lowered his chin. “Alright.” Jonesy opened an eye and not long after Burris felt a silky ribbon wrap around his right wrist. A warm tingle flowed through his body for a brief moment. He saw Jonesy grin and returned the gesture.

“So I guess what I’m saying is; don’t be ashamed by that shit,” Aile continued. “Life throws trash at everyone, it just.” She shrugged. “Happens.” 

“I’ve gathered that,” Burris said, voice just above a whisper. 

“It’s how you move on that defines you,” Aile said. She tilted her head back and forth. “And I was going to call you anyway on this, actually.” Her smile returned, she threw one leg over the other and began to spin slowly in her computer chair. “Because I wanted to help with Wally.”

“Ah, Elesa mentioned you knew him.” Burris turned away and coughed into a fist. 

“Only if you want to make up with-“

“Yes!” Burris nearly flung himself from his boulder. “I mean, I just.” He shrunk back down a bit, rubbing the back of his head and blushing slightly. “I’d at least like to clear the air with him.”

Aile’s smile turned sly. 

“Mhmm.” A picture was worth a thousand words but the “mhmm” nailed the meaning behind Aile’s change in smile better than any picture could. “I already texted with him, by the way. He’s probably hitting Fallarbor town later tonight.”

“He’d probably be gone by the time I get there,” Burris mumbled.

“Not true!” Aile protested. “There’s a lot to do around there.”

“… It’s Fallarbor.” Burris said. Sure, there was a lot of pretty nature nearby and even a contest hall in the town for some reason. “There’s not enough to keep him around there for a week.”

“I disagree but regardless; I think it’s a good idea for me to talk with him there. About, well.” She moved her arms outwards. “This.” 

“I.” Burris tapped his chin, conflicting thoughts bouncing through his head. “Mmmmm.”

“I won’t say anything to him you don’t want me to.”

A reassuring thought, to be sure, but- “Just… nothing in detail about the ex.” Burris drummed his fingers, butterflies dancing in his stomach. “I just. Mmmm.” 

“Are you sure?” Aile said with about as much grandmotherly concern as she could muster.

Burris breathed in and he felt Jonesy’s ribbon wrap ever so slightly tighter around his wrist, a familiar warm feeling following. “Yeah. I feel like not saying anything there kinda. Led to this, yanno?” He shut his eyes and shook his head. “N-not saying I don’t feel like what he did was _right_ , not at all!”

“Well yeah, and I’ll help get that through to Wally,” Aile said. She leaned back into her chair and grunted a little at her back stretching out. “I probably don’t need to say this, but he didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Still did,” Burris mumbled. He let out a soft breath. “But… no, yeah, you’re right there.”

“And I’m also right in saying that doesn’t excuse what he did, either.” Aile’s voice turned agitated. “But I’ll get that through to him.” _Because his asshole parents couldn’t bother._ “This just.” She sat upright and placed her free hand down on her knee. “Needs to be a learning experience for both of you, at the end of the day.”

“Yeah.” Burris paused at the sight of a somewhat darker set of clouds passing overhead, shade beginning to choke out the sun. “I know.”

“Good.” Aile said, then winced. “And uh. One more thing?”

“Yeah?”

“I… wouldn’t get your mom involved in this. Right away, anyway.” 

Burris blinked. “Wh-“ He held his free pointer finger out in front of PokeNav’s slightly scratched screen, mouth open. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Aile shook her head. “I don’t like saying that, but you two need time to figure it out and she needs time to process this. And those just.” She bit her lip and raised her shoulders. “Need to happen separately.”

“And Dad’ll help her with that. Right?”

Aile chuckled. “Yes.” For all the shit she gave Eli, Aile wouldn’t have let him marry Liliana in the first place if he _couldn’t_ help her daughter through something like this.

-

Sometimes, Burris had no idea how Hoenn’s ecosystem even worked. He had only walked what, two hours north of Mauville max? Sure, his legs ached from some of the sheer inclines just past the choke point, and he expected some drastic changes in the climate.

But a desert? Geographically it made sense; mountains surrounded the desert on all sides, leaving it in a rain shadow. Still, the fact Burris was peering through a small valley through mountains into an honest to god desert was something else.

He turned back towards Jonesy, a good ten feet behind him. The Sylveon glared at the harsh gusts of wind in the desert, picking up proverbial sheets of sand and tossing them around.

“You really don’t like that, huh.” Burris shoved his hands into his pockets and looked back. He winced, imagining the feeling of his skin being rubbed near constantly by sharp sand-wielding wind. Jonesy huffed and turned back towards the main path. Burris followed close behind. “Yeah, I don’t blame you.”

The two walked with the sounds of their footsteps crunching dirt accompanying them. Light winds caused tall grass to sway here and there. Light puffy clouds dotted the sky, a stark contrast to the gathering storm above Mauville.

Burris glanced down at the tiny block of a city, eyes squinting as he tried to make out the small white statue in the middle of the town square. He then turned to his northwest. Mt. Chimney towered in the distance, making Burris feel small and Mauville even tinier by comparison. Burris spotted a silver lift car advancing up the wires to the top of the mountain at a snail’s pace. 

Jonesy stared just past another inclined path, heading past a heavily forested side of the mountain. Burris could catch a glimpse of a town sign; Lavaridge Town, 2 miles away…

“The fourth gym is there,” Burris muttered. A secondary thought to reaching Fallarbor, but- He blinked. He knew Fallarbor was _north_ , certainly, but how could he get there? He clicked his tongue, hoping to whatever god was up there it didn’t involve the raging sandstorm of a desert.

He grabbed his PokeNav and his thumb flipped through a few options before bringing up a map. A very blocky and useless map. “I know you go nor- oh, you can zoom in.”

Burris had taken to sitting down on a fallen log near a set of stairs climbing up towards the base of the mountain. “Jagged Pass? Too steep.” Jonesy’s ears perked at the sound of footsteps nearby, Burris’ eyes only following him to make sure he didn’t sprint off into the tall grass. “Fiery Path?” Burris clicked his tongue. It didn’t sound _too_ awful, though he recalled how his last encounter with a cave ended. A desert, a climb, or a cave potentially infested with Zubats.

And no one to lean on in case some-

“Burris?” A female voice knocked Burris out of his thoughts. He turned up to see Sienna’s blue eyes staring down at him. Jonesy proudly chirped, ribbon wrapped around Sienna’s left forearm.

“Sienna!” Burris leaped off of seat. He immediately wondered if anyone had told Sienna what happened with him in Mauville. Then again, Burris realized, she seemed pretty concerned when they last met. Maybe it wasn’t about evil pirate cosplayers. “… What’s up?” he asked.

“Anabel and I are waiting to see what Magma and Aqua do next,” Sienna said. She rubbed her chin and sighed. Wait and see was her least favorite game to play. “So I decided to try and go to Fortree to get my next badge, and well.” Jonesy hummed as Sienna ran her hand through his fur. “Jonesy found me.”

“Oh, cool,” Burris said, though he couldn’t help but wonder why Sienna hadn’t just flown or teleported over there. Her pokemon could do that, right? Meh. “I just… got my third badge, actually.”

“Three?” Sienna said, eyes widened. Jonesy trodded back to Burris’ side when Sienna brought her hands up. “That’s awesome, I honestly didn’t expect you to be taking on Gyms like that.”

“Y-yeah,” Burris said. He chuckled and grinned. “N-neither did I.”

“So out of curiosity; how’d it go?” Sienna asked. Crossing her arms, she continued. “Elesa gave me a hell of a time, I’m really interested to see what you did!”

Burris felt a lump in his throat and noticed Sienna’s expression adjust to his sudden shift to awkwardness. Yes, he had to tell her about that No, he didn’t care to relive all of that again. His grin vanished and he exhaled.

“Well, you see.”

Burris hadn’t realized how much Sienna had become like Mom.

He just didn’t wish it dawned on him when Sienna’s expression matched Liliana’s after he told both of them what happened.

Sienna shook for a moment. “I…” She turned and coughed into her hand. “Do you think this is a game!?” she shouted and snapped, waving an angry finger at Burris.

“Um.” Burris rubbed the back of his head, knowing a no win answer when he saw one. Jonesy whined and nuzzled Burris leg.

“Why do you think I was worried about you earlier!?” Sienna continued. “I’m not worried about Aqua or Magma doing anything _stupid_ like going after you when Mom would launch them into outer-goddamn-space, I’m worried about _you_!” She took in a couple of quick, heated, breaths as Burris felt guilt tug at his head and heart.

“You clearly hadn’t slept, you were irritable, grouchy, bitching about some _boy_ texting you,” Sienna said, counting off each instance on a finger. “Jorge had a large bruise _and_ seemed to think something was up too, and Pokemon don’t just lie about their trainers like that!”

Sienna’s shoulders slouched, her rage giving way to a purely worried expression. “You… you could’ve _told_ me what was up.” Her voice became quiet, she rubbed her arms and stared at the ground. “You know I’d help with this again, you just…”

“Need to let you,” Burris mumbled. He felt his heart grow heavy, he shut his eyes and exhaled. “I know you hated feeling helpless, I know I needed to tell you and mom and dad when something like that popped up again…” Burris took a step closer to his sister.

“I’m sorry.”

Sienna blinked twice, then nodded and sniffled. Burris barely had time to process it before Sienna launched himself into a hug that would threaten to crush a lesser man’s joints. Burris wrapped his arms around Sienna and listened to the winds whistling and grass rustling.

“It’s ok,” Sienna said after withdrawing from the hug. “You’re ok.”

“Yeah,” Burris said, hands in his pockets and staring off at the top of Mt. Coronet. “I still need to talk to someone else though...”

“Wally?”

“… Yeah,” Burris nodded. “He’s in Fallarbor, I’d say it’d be easier by text but…” He sighed. “He hasn’t responded. Doesn’t feel right anyway.”

“I’ll come along,” Sienna said, smiling.

“Don’t you have a world to save and a championship to win?” Burris said, raising an eyebrow.

“I’ve got time to kill on one and for the other…” Sienna raised her right arm, showing a black metal bracelet, a rainbow colored stone with a symbol imprinted on it attached. “I don’t think Tsunami will have much of an issue with it.”

“… you already have a Swampert?” Burris asked. Sienna laughed at the surprised expression plastered on his face. “You are _insane_.”

“He thrives off of the challenge, honestly! He might get a lil’ grouchy we’re taking time off, though…” The two of them walked up stone steps, headed to the very base of Mt. Coronet. A few painters and workers milling about a light blue (and slightly damaged) building caught Burris’ attention for a second.

“Let me guess, Alpha’s a Metagross already too? You saw Rayquaza and caught it?”

“Not quite!” Sienna said, a mischievous smile crossing her face as she held a finger up to her cheek. “Though I was planning on Rayquaza eventually.”

Burris stopped just short of Jagged Pass and gave Sienna a look that was best described as a hybrid of “this is bullshit” and “I’m also slightly mortified by your insanity”.

“Why not just go for Arceus instead?” he said. “Might as well go completely ridiculous and get a full team of legendaries while you’re at it, become champion of all leagues, queen of the universe…”

“You would make a nice court jester,” Sienna said.

The twins sat in front of Fiery Path, giggling and tongues sticking out at one another before they plunged into the fiery dimness.


	24. Boiling Red

Heat and sulfur mixed to provide an unpleasant smell to accompany the oppressive atmosphere in the Fiery Path. Smoke bellowed out of some of the rocks, pumping in more natural heat from Mt. Chimney itself. A group of Slugma slithered behind a stack of boulders as Sienna and Burris walked past.

Tsunami lumbered behind the two, fish like eyes darting back and forth between the threats in the cavern. He growled at the sound of a squawk from behind; Jorge rested his head on his claws, supported at just the right angle by Tsunami’s head.

“You think they were always like this?” Burris asked.

“Probably,” Sienna said. “I mean we’re what? A month removed from leaving home now?”

“I thought it was closer to three weeks,” Burris said. He shrugged. “It’s hard to tell when you’re not on a school schedule.”

“Right?” Sienna grunted and stretched her arms above her head, eyes locked into a Torkoal withdrawn into its shell behind a boiling crater of water. “Not exactly the first thing on your mind, especially when fighting bad guys.”

Right. Bad guys. Burris’ mind went to the encounter back in Slateport. The two men didn’t seem to be that threatening all things considered. Though that was likely attributed to one of them being drunk at the time. 

“What were you even doing while fighting them?” Burris questioned. Sienna remained focused on the path ahead, then sighed.

“A lot. One group tried to steal submarine parts, the other tried to build a giant drill to excavate Mt. Chimney, they both fought over Mt. Chimney’s crater and some meteorite thing…” She shrugged. “And they’ve sorta been lying low since. Anabel’s been keeping tabs on them so I’ve had free time.”

“Anabel can keep tabs on two terrorist organizations at once?” Burris raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, _duh_ ,” Sienna replied, fists on her sides and eyes narrowed. “Why even question it? She’s so…” She sighed wistfully. “Perfect, really.”

“Uh huh.” Weird. Burris wiped some sweat off of his brow, an intermittent reminder of the heat. At least he didn’t care about looks right now. Getting the smell and sweat out of these clothes was going to take some sort of effort.

He craned his neck back and snuck a peek at Jorge dozing off on Tsunami’s back. Someone didn’t mind the heat.

And then his mind whirled, various bits and pieces of thoughts and observations from Sienna’s last statement clicking together into one incredibly obvious observation.

“Perfect, huh?” Burris narrowed his eyes with suspicion and crossed his arms.

“I-I mean.” Sienna turned away and chuckled, and Burris swore her cheeks seemed slightly redder than before. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Aren’t you, yanno.” Burris waved around his left hand to stall and try to find his words. “Not. Supposed to crush on work partners?”

Sienna swung around towards him, cheeks further flushed.

“ _Burris!_ ”

“Oh come on, it’s obvious!” Burris said, arms outstretched. “Miss “I joined the cheer squad for cute girls”.”

“Yeah, well!” Sienna turned away and scowled. She rubbed her arms together. “Yeah, fine, ok.” 

Their footsteps echoed louder in the caverns beneath Mt. Chimney. Burris glanced upwards at the completely empty ceiling. Sienna was right about one thing; no Zubats. While the sulfuric smell and heat attracted other poison types, there weren’t roving hordes of bats.

“Also isn’t she like 26 -“

“Yes, I’ve figured that out, thank you!” Sienna said, throwing her arms up. “I know it’ll never work, that-“

“I mean, I was just giving you shit.” Burris rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. His eyes wandered towards a Koffing embedded in one of small crevices in the cave wall, satisfied smile on its face. “Besides, stranger things have happened.”

“Mhmm,” Sienna said. Her gaze focused straight ahead, hands clasped behind her back. “I… guess you have a point.” She shook her head. A grin crossed her face and she laughed. “I mean, we are hiking all over northwestern Hoenn to get you a boyfriend.”

“I just want to-“ Burris started. He snorted and waved off the cackling Sienna. “Nevermind.”

Sienna laid a lone hand on Burris’ right shoulder, her smile turning towards reassuring. “Whatever you decide, you decide. I’m not pressuring you, I’m-“

“- just making fun of you,” Burris said. He shut his eyes and laughed. “Yeah, I know.”

A pained cry interrupted the two. Tsunami stood up straight, a low rumble in his throat. Jorge pushed himself off of his ride’s back, flipping through the air for a few dramatic moments before landing on his clawed feet.

Burris narrowed his eyes at his starter. “I see Elesa gave you a flair for the dramatic.”

Jorge clicked his beak back. Sienna and Tsunami approached a shivering orange Numel, hidden between the cave walls and a large boulder. The Numel took a step or two back before bumping into a dead end.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Sienna said in as soft of a voice as she could muster. She bent down to one knee and sucked in a breath through her teeth. A ugly red wound stretched around the Numel’s front right leg. “What- oh.”

“What’s up?” Burris asked. Sienna narrowed her eyes and showed him a Poke Ball, snapped in two. “Oh.”

“It’s badly wounded, trainer had to have abandoned it.” Sienna grabbed for a potion from her pack. “Easy there, this’ll sting…” 

Tsunami’s eyes darted back and forth, Swampert acting as sentry while the Numel whimpered in the background. Burris noticed the pendant hanging around Tsunami’s neck, holding a similar stone to Sienna’s bracelet. Of course she already mastered Mega Evolution. It only took Aile and Liliana decades to do it. Or so they said.

“Do you have a spare Poke Ball, by chance?” Sienna asked, hand outstretched.

“We’re going to send him to Birch?”

“Don’t have much of a choice. Lavaridge is close enough but we’d have to stay for the night there,” Sienna explained. 

“And this is already going to be a long trip,” Burris murmured. He felt the cold metal of the red and white capsule in his backpack. He approached the Numel slowly, the fire type staring up at him. “Easy there, we’re sending you to someone nice…”

The Numel hesitated for a moment, which was enough for Burris to tap him on the nose. In a flash, the Numel was gone. The ball clicked shut and emitted a padlock signal in front of the button before vanishing into the ether.

“Magma abandoned him, probably,” Sienna spat.

“If they’re as petty as those guys I fought in Slateport, I can see it.”

Birch hummed over the mess of his desk, covered in pieces of research journal papers and a tablet. He heard the soft flutter of Dustox wings and turned around to face Stuart, holding a pokeball in his appendages.

“Oh!” Birch grabbed for the capsule. “You make a good assistant Stuart.” The Dustox buzzed i appreciation, watching as Birch tossed the capsule to the ground. The Numel blinked lazily at first glance, before his eyes widened and scanned his new surroundings. 

“Hello there!” Birch said, hands on his knees and a goofy grin on his face. “Let me get you situated…”

-

The first thing Burris did when stepping into the cool dry Hoenn air was take in a deep breath. He felt the cool, crisp, clean air enter his lungs and wash away the heat and weight from the air inside the Fiery Path.

He heard Sienna chuckle and Tsunami rumble behind him as he exhaled. 

“It’s really nice out here, isn’t it?” Sienna said. Burris looked up at the stars drowning out the sky. His eyes widened; Littleroot’s night sky seemed positively vacant compared to all of this. 

“Yeah,” he said, stepping around slowly. “Wish I had room for a telescope.” He turned and saw the red light emanating from the top of Mt. Chimney, smoke still tumbling out from the crater.

“You can rent one in Fallarbor probably,” Sienna pointed out. She set her backpack down on the grass, green and swaying back and forth with the gentle night breeze. 

“We’re staying here for the night?” Burris questioned. Jorge flipped off of Tsunami back towards Burris side. Burris glanced down at the Combusken tugging at his shorts. “What?” Jorge pointed at the Fiery Path. “No we’re not staying in there, we’re not all fire types.”

Jorge slouched his shoulders and turned away. Tsunami rumbled out a teasing response, causing Jorge to shake a fist at the Swampert.

“Oh.” Burris observed the two bickering starters. “That… would explain a lot.”

“Robby and Jorge not get along?” Sienna said, focused intently on the half built pole frame of an orange tent.

“It’s… better now, I think.” Burris hummed. They hadn’t actually had a lot of time since the gym battle. He shrugged. The two did conk out right next to each other, it had to count for something right?

“Pokemon tend to figure things out when spending time together,” Sienna remarked. “I had a few troubles with some of my team and all; Cinnamon and Peach didn’t like each other much for a bit there.”

“The Minun? Huh,” Burris replied. He unclipped his own green tent from the bottom of his backpack. “I’ve had zero trouble with Axel. He’s a complete sweetheart, honestly.”

“Yeah! He was with me too. And Cinnamon is fine with everyone else, just…” Sienna sighed as she tied the rain tarp to her tent with a bungee cord. “Didn’t like Peach, I guess.”

“Go figure,” Burris said. He afforded a side glance at Jorge and Tsunami, who were now exchanging a fist bump. And goddamn did Jorge’s fist seem _small_ compared to the Swampert’s. By the time Burris and Sienna had set up their tents, the moon hung in the sky. Burris moved to a fallen long nearby, acting like a bench. Probably left there by one of the rangers.

“Full moon? Cool.” Burris said. Sienna sat down and looked up.

“Yeah. It’s worth going this far north just for the moon and stars, honestly,” she said. Her eyes trailed down to a small fire pit, a glorified ring of rocks around a hole. “… it’d be nicer with a fire, though.”

“Jorge?” Burris said. “Mind grabbing us some sticks and logs?” Jorge scowled and clicked his beak. “It’ll be the closest thing you get to being in Fiery Path tonight!”

Tsunami gurgled out a chuckle at Jorge’s expense. “Tsunami, you too!”

Jorge grinned at Tsunami while the Swampert growled back, but the two went into the trees all the same. The sound of breaking branches and heavy footsteps grew quieter and quieter until Sienna and Burris were alone in the wilderness.

“So are you going to challenge Flannery next?” Sienna asked, breaking the silence’s hold.

Burris tilted his head back and forth. “She’s fire, right?”

“Yeah. You have a Dewott and Lombre by now, right?” Sienna said. “You’ll be fine. Flannery has some strong fire moves but she runs out of steam fast.”

“She’s the newest gym leader, right?” Burris asked. He kicked his feet against the logs for a few moments. Jonesy was likely bulky enough to help too, and Jorge had a natural resistance plus his fighting moves… He nodded. “Yeah. I should be fine. Once I figure out things with Wally I’ll track back to Lavaridge.”

“It’s pretty much on the way anyway,” Sienna said. She grabbed her flaming red PokeNav and brought up the map application. The twin’s faces were illuminated by the blocky shapes on the screen. “See? Lavaridge is right by Mauville. Unless you take Meteor Falls back towards Rustboro and home…” she traced her finger up past Fallarbor towards the cave system, before her finger jumped to Mauville. 

“Ok.” Burris nodded.

“But if you go back to Mauville, you can go from there towards Rustboro or off east towards our fifth badge pretty easily.”

“Ours?” Burris asked, crossing his arms.

“I mean, Winona as the fifth makes the most sense with Dad saved for last,” Sienna said. She slipped the PokeNav into her gym shorts pocket. For a moment it dawned on Burris that they shared an outdoors clothing style, yet couldn’t be more different otherwise. 

“Then the twins six, Juan seven, Dad eight?” Burris asked.

“Yeah!” Sienna laughed and nodded. “Honestly I didn’t think you’d get so caught up in the badges business, Burris.”

Burris tilted his head to the side and chuckled. “… Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Neither did I. But it’s been a nice distraction and my team seems to like it, so…”

“Well with Robby at a minimum I can imagine he really enjoys it,” Sienna continued. 

Burris felt the cool metal of Robby’s red and white Poke Ball, hearing Sienna’s unsaid request to see the Dewott. The flash of light illuminated the makeshift campsite for a second, Robby standing between them. He chittered and glanced at Burris, then towards Sienna.

“Hi there!” Sienna said. Robby purred at the feeling of Sienna’s gloved fingers rubbed through his head fur. “Burris has trained you well, hasn’t he?”

Robby chirped, causing Burris to blush.

“I-I mean, Robby is really talented-“

“Oh!” Sienna said. She held up a finger for a moment and dug through her bag. “I’m not entirely sure how this ended up in my stuff, but…” She hummed and cursed at the mess of her bag before finding precisely what she was looking for.

Burris squinted at the well-loved red bandanna held in front of him.

“Remember this?” she said.

Burris’ eyes widened.

“Robby’s support pokemon bandanna!” Burris said. Robby’s head bumped into Burris’ chin, the Dewott grinning at the piece of cloth like a long lost friend. One that, as an Oshawott, he’d pretend was a little superhero cape and would run around the house with it trailing behind him.

In a flash, Sienna clipped it around Robby’s neck. A tighter fit than before, but Robby still spun around to show it off. He placed his hands on his hips, chirped, and nodded in approval before walking back to Burris’ side. Burris pet the top of Robby’s head.

“Yeah, I think it ended up in my hiking bag from the last time we went camping together,” Sienna said. She turned to the sky and smiled. “It was a lot of fun. A lot simpler, too.”

“Yeah, I never thought this would get so complicated,” Burris said. He tilted his head and chuckled. “Even without getting roped into saving the world.”

“Heh.” Sienna drummed her fingers on her thighs. “You know, our lives and family would be a lot simpler without all of it, though.”

“No kidding!” Burris exclaimed. He hummed and rubbed his chin. “Though I couldn’t imagine Grandma Aile just sitting around at home.”

“Dark type gym leader,” Sienna interjected at lightning speed. She gave Burris a “really” look at his surprised glance. “She has a Krookodile and an Umbreon as her two mains. From two separate teams.”

“… I could see her as a dirty fighter, yeah.” Burris rubbed his chin with a lone finger. “Or at least one that talked trash the entire fight.”

“Swearing the entire time, too.”

“That practically goes without saying.” Burris crossed his arms and smirked at Sienna before his eyes widened in remembrance. “God I just remembered she was the Kalosian champ once upon a time.”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? Kalosian champions have this lineage of being super respectful and graceful and then.” Sienna showed the screen of her PokeNav to Burris, displaying Aile giving the middle finger to Nanu with a roughly ten year old Burris looking on. “There’s her.”

Burris laughed. “Oh my god, I almost forgot about that!”

“I’m pretty sure she taught us all of our swear words and rude gestures.” Sienna slipped her phone back into her pocket. The sound of snapping branches and rustling brush grew slightly louder. “It’s amazing how Mom turned out the way she did.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Burris and Sienna watched as Tsunami and Jorge marched past. Tsunami dropped a square of big tree logs into the pit, followed by Jorge throwing a bunch of sticks into the middle of it. “You taught Tsunami how to build a fire?”

“Yeah, he must’ve taught Jorge too…” Sienna trailed off and shielded her eyes moments before Jorge breathed a steady stream of embers into the wood. The pit soon roared to life, fire illuminating the faces of all nearby and sending ashes and embers dancing into the sky.

Tsunami huffed and nodded in approval, while Jorge jutted a thumb at his chest. Tsunami growled and moved his face down to Jorge’s level. 

Robby gave Burris and Sienna a quizzical look, arms crossed and head tilted.

“Yeah, Robby,” Burris said. He grinned and laughed. “Jorge’s always been like that.” His phone buzzed, the pokemon and Sienna quickly getting swept up in some other conversation

<9:21 pm> hey called anabel 4 a lift  
<9:22 pm> u still sure about this?

Burris paused. Nice of Grandma to ask him one last time, just to drudge up some hesitation.

<9:24 pm> yes

Small white dots bounced up on the bottom of the screen.

<9:25 pm> just makin sure

Burris nodded. The screen turned off before the device vanished into his pocket, and Burris turned to the stars above and the conversation around him.

He trusted Aile. This would work out.


	25. Just A Talk

Three AM, Aile swore, was a time no human should ever have to experience. She groaned and stretched her arms above her head. The sheets next to Aile were empty; Bianca had left for a meeting in Sinnoh with an older energy corporation. Founded after the Team Plasma event in Sinnoh, if Aile remembered right. Supposedly one of their reformed admins ran the company, which was the worldwide leader in renewable energies.

Aile grumbled and threw her warm fuzzy blanket off. “Always the coziest when you have to wake up,” Aile said. She glanced down at her light blue pajamas, Spheals plastered all over the bottom in a pattern and a family image of Spheal, Walrein, and Sealeo imprinted on her deep blue shirt.

Normally when about to travel cross world she’d be bitching about putting on a suit, but this wasn’t some professional world police shit. 

Just Wally. 

Aile huffed and clicked her belt around her waist. She knew his parents weren’t the best for him, but if Aile had realized sooner they hadn’t taught him anything worth a damn she would’ve pressed to do something about it.

“Then Nanu would tell you “you can’t do anything unless CPS does, blah blah fuck you.”.” She slung the black strap of her red duffel bag over her shoulder, squinting at the light of her phone as she scrolled through the messages.

Finally, the text from Anabel. Steven would be here, 3:15 AM sharp. Aile never figured out why Anabel named an Alakazam Steven, especially with how grumpy the fucking thing could be.

Aile held her left hand over her eyes as a glowing purple orb formed in her room. Seconds later the orb shifted and turned into a shorter creature, just an inch or so above Aile’s waistline.

“Good, I get to taxi around _you_ again,” Steven growled, gesturing for Aile to get closer.

“I like you about the same, so lets get it over with.” Aile had assumed, besides his general demeanor, that Steven disliked her especially because he had tried digging into her mind once. 

The reaction from Aile’s natural defenses left him in a PokeCenter for a few days. Aile couldn’t help but feel grateful that N had caught Liliana’s powers before she tried to do anything that dumb. N had helped Aile a lot, honestly. Especially with giving her some comfort level with Eli being Liliana’s significant other. Skyla occasionally bitched to N that Aile was too harsh on Eli.

Aile would scoff and point out it’d be much, much worse with almost literally anyone else.

Aile clicked her tongue and looked away from Steven. She could feel his mistrustful gaze. 

“You know they call you humans psychics when that’s so… inaccurate,” Steven said. “What do you call a type that’s immune to psychics and are generally malicious assholes?” He quirked an eyebrow at Aile.

Aile crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Ha ha. Funny.” She sighed. “Just get this over with.”

“Gladly.”

And in a flash, Steven and Aile vanished, the force of the teleportation toying with the edges of the white bedsheets.

Some people would claim to feel dizzy or woozy by teleportation, especially across the world. Some would even feel ill for days after the fact, in which case a doctor would either give them some sort of medicine to better handle the side effects or order them to never use teleportation ever again due to potential for brain damage.

Aile, on the other hand, yawned and walked out into the cool Fallarbor evening air. Stars drowned the skies, making Littleroot’s night sky look positively dark by comparison. A few people and trainers milled back and forth outside, and a steady stream of dressed up couples left the deep red theater nearby. They held Pokemon Contests there, but there were also live shows and movies there too. 

“Thanks for the lift, tell Anabel I said thanks,” Aile said. The Alakazam rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah.” And with that, Steven vanished in a blink. Aile rolled her neck around and held her hands behind her head. It occurred to her that caffeine should’ve been in order before leaving home, but PokeCenters usually had complimentary (bad) coffee. Or sold energy drinks. Aile had no idea how trainers travelling on foot bothered with the damn things. She did know Bianca didn’t want her drinking them, though.

Aile stepped into the PokeCenter. In the sea of pokemon trainers and other travelers, Aile’s pajamas looked almost pristine. No one would mistake her for a journeywoman between the gray hairs and the Spheal slippers, though. 

The desk attendant turned to her and forced a smile at Aile’s approach.

“Hello! Welcome to the Fallarbor Pokemon Center, how may I help you?”

Aile yawned and passed her police identification to the pink haired nurse, who looked down with worry for a few brief moments. “Nothin illegal, just making sure you know I’m not some random stalker.”

“O-oh,” the nurse replied. She clasped her hands and nodded. “Right.”

“Anyway Wally Anderson is staying here, yeah? Tell him Aile Juniper’s here for him.” Aile’s right hand slipped into the warmth of her pajama pocket, and in a flash a black and white credit card hit the counter. 

“And one Kickstart please. Blueberry pomegranate.”

A male trainer bandaged his Shinx’s paw, a small pile of thorns sitting next to the odd boy as Aile observed. It had only been ten minutes since she had sat down and sipped her drink, but it felt like an eternity. She felt like her teeth might rot too, but they could easily be replaced.

“Nora, I told you not to play in the bushes,” the male chastised. He seemed to be a bit too old to be travelling, though Aile remembered she journeyed through Kalos as a 23 year old with a newborn Liliana with Bianca. 

_I really don’t miss that place._ A Starly perched on the man’s shoulder and chirped down what Aile guessed were insults at the Shinx, causing her to hiss and the trainer to roll his eyes.

“One of these days I’m going to leave you to Nora’s whims, Screech,” he said. The Shinx licked her lips, the Starly shook his head and seemed to call the man’s bluff. 

Aile drifted away from the conversation, eyes bouncing from trainer not named Wally to trainer not named Wally. Even though it had been a few years since they last saw each other, he wasn’t hard to pick out of a crowd with his green hair.

“Just trying to kill time, I suppose,” Aile muttered. She leaned her head on her fist and yawned, shaking her empty can of sugar and energy as her eyes focused on the two stairs heading to the upstairs rooms. Aile almost wondered if she had been better off going to knock on Wally’s door instead of asking the staff to send him a message.

Her question was answered at the sight of green hair and a little gray suit at the top of the stairs. Wally’s blue eyes looked back and forth, the little guy bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. 

Aile stood up and chucked her blue can into the trash. “Wally!” Aile said, standing up a little taller and waving.

Wally’s swiveled around until locking onto Aile, his gaze immediately brightening. He practically sprinted down the steps, dodging a few trainers milling around with surprising dexterity before launching himself into a hug with Aile.

“Miss Juniper!” Wally said, Aile’s arms locking around him.

“Hello sweetie!” Aile said, voice reverting to a softer tone on borderline instinct. The two embraced for a few moments before letting go. Wally looked up with his excited look and Arceus he was an adorable little shit. Aile ruffled his hair, causing Wally to blush and laugh. “How’s my little man doing?”

“Good!” Aile could tell he forced the smile a little bit, but they weren’t going to talk in the lobby here. They could just go back to Wally’s room, but that seemed a little… boring. Why come to Fallarbor and not stare at the night sky. “I wanted to swing on in and catch up with you a bit.” Wally blinked in confusion, but nodded. “It’s not really a huge deal to get out here, just gotta deal with a grouch.”

“The… Alakazam?” Wally asked, adjusting his hair.

“Did I complain about him that much?” Aile asked. Then shrugged. “Probably.” 

“Yeah.” Wally laughed. “You did.” He gestured towards the stairs. “Do you want to go back to my room?”

Aile’s grin widened. “Nah. I’ve got a better idea.”

-

The night had grown a little colder since Aile had gone inside the PokeCenter, but the stars still sparkled. A beautiful night sky in Fallarbor, one of the main attractions of the small town up north.

“There?” Wally said, pointing at the rooftop. Then he frowned. “I don’t know how to get up there, though…”

He gasped at the feeling of cold metal through his clothes, Aile’s own pajamas mostly covered by metallic plating. Wally could hear the soft hum of small jets on Aile’s feet and back.

“No worries.” She looked down at him and grinned. “Up we go!”

Wally felt his stomach lurch and saw the ground grow smaller and smaller as Aile lifted up into the sky. An old man looked on in confusion, but didn’t see much before Wally felt the red roof of the PokeCenter beneath his feet. Aile walked ahead of him towards a boxy ventilation system, black armor melting into nothingness around her. Wally gawked at the sight; Aile had shown off some of those powers to him before, but he still couldn’t wrap his mind around them.

Aile plopped down on the cold red metal and patted the ground next to her.

“Won’t we get in trouble?” Wally asked.

“Pfft. What, are they going to arrest a World Police agent?”

Wally giggled and sat down next to Aile.

“Only Nanu.”

Aile clapped and laughed a hard laugh before ruffling Wally’s hair.

“You are the literal best, you know that?”

Wally shut his eyes and half smiled half winced at the roughness of Aile’s hand. He worked quickly to get his hair to some semblance of normalcy.

“Oh, before I forget.” Wally looked up at Aile’s voice and saw the bright red of the Poke Ball in her outstretched hand. “Got something for you.”

Wally rolled the capsule around in his hands. “Another pokemon?”

“Yeah! Bianca did all of the paperwork and everything,” Aile said, leaning in closer to Wally. “We had your old files from when we let you have Ginnis so it was a synch.” 

“Oh, he’d want to see you!” Wally exclaimed. In one smooth movement, he grabbed Ginnis’ capsule and dropped it alongside the new one.

A small bird with an orange head formed from one burst of light, large black eyes staring into Wally’s. The little bird tilted his head at Ginnis, who did the same. The bird took a couple of hops towards Wally’s knees and chirped.

“Wally, that’s Sunstorm!” Aile said, then patted her hands on her lap. “Ginnis!” she called. Ginnis’s eyes widened. He spun around on a leg and squeaked at the sight of Aile. He vanished in a blink, Aile recoiling at the sudden weight in her lap. “You’ve grown up so much, hello!” She ran her hand through Ginnis’ green hair.

“H-hello, Sunstorm,” Wally said. Sunstorm pecked at the ground around him once, twice, before fluttering up. Wally barely had time to gasp before he landed on his shoulder. Wally felt talons dig lightly into his skin. The Fletchling’s series of chirps showed he enjoyed it, at the least.

“See? Total match,” Aile said. She nodded triumphantly. “And people think my wife can’t pick out good trainers for Pokemon.”

“They don’t?” Wally tilted his head to the side. “Doesn’t she help your mom with her starter program?”

“When she has time.” Aile’s head bobbed back and forth, then she sighed softly. “So, not much.” Aile wouldn’t have guessed she would’ve been the one to want to settle down first. But Liliana couldn’t take over the Foundation, Burris and Sienna were too young… N was an amazing volunteer on cases, but he couldn’t run the entire thing.

“Oh.” Wally pursed his lips. “I… didn’t know.”

“It’s not a problem!” Blatantly lying was one of Aile’s specialties, alongside middle fingers and punching when she got mad. “Just.” She shrugged a little. “How life goes, sometimes.”

Aile watched Wally deflate slightly, shoulders slumping enough to cause Sunstorm to readjust his perch. Aile felt the white blob in her lap shift, she could sense Ginnis’ stress. 

“Yeah. I’ve learned that.” He looked away for a moment, a knot forming in his stomach. “A bit.” He crossed his arms. Sunstorm fluttered his wings and landed on the ground, evidently already sick of his perch moving too much. 

Aile’s eyes shifted to empty space. She still bit her tongue, even though she knew this was never going to be easy to begin with.

“I heard what happened between you and Burris,” she said finally, voice flat and quiet as she could be.

Wally’s head drooped down. Ginnis cried out quietly, Aile humming in a soothing tone to him while petting his head more.

“And?” Wally said, sparing Aile a sideways glance.

Aile shut her eyes and exhaled. “You can’t just. Assume things will be that simple, you know.”

“I’ve learned that,” Wally muttered. He looked up at Mt. Chimney, smoke wisping into the cold dark sky above. It obscured the view of some of the stars in the sky. 

“I mean. You can’t just.” Aile narrowed her eyes at the back of Wally’s head. “Look, you have to talk to Burris about that sort of thing.”

“We tried that.”

Aile did her best to prevent her blood from boiling.

“No, you didn’t,” Aile said. She tilted her head back and forth, biting the bottom of her lip. Ginnis peeked up at Aile with worried red eyes. “Did you know he has an ex?” Pause. “An asshole ex?”

Wally froze for a moment, then warily turned to see Aile’s downcast expression.

“… no,” he said, knot in his stomach. He hadn’t seen that look from Aile before. “I didn’t.”

“Yeah.” Aile rubbed circles in the light layer of ash on the PokeCenter roof, giving it a gray-red tinge. Silence set in for a few moments, before the dull thud of Wally’s head against the ceiling vent broke it. “Look, people have their own rhymes and reasons for even the craziest shit. I’m not excusing Burris here, I just-”

“I thought it was so clear,” Wally said, twiddling his thumbs in his lap. He bit his lip and swung his head from side to side. “Then he started ignoring me, then he blew up at me and-” He swallowed, taking a deep steadying breath. “And then I wasn’t happy with him very much.”

Aile looked down and away. “I don’t need to tell you this, but it’s never that easy or clear.” She stroked Ginnis’ head absent-mindedly. “Bianca and I always had something from a young age and even that didn’t make things simple.”

“... you mentioned her dad, yeah,” Wally murmured, hands clenched. “... I should’ve known better, shouldn’t I?” He bit his lip. “Or at least just. Asked.” He looked back towards Aile, trembling slightly, a nervous gaze expecting a series of intensifying swear words of how he was a giant fuck up, how he was just some kid who weighed people down and would never do anything himself and-

“I’m not out here to yell at you, you know that right?”

“Y-yeah.” Wally swallowed. Sunstorm pruned his left wing. “I just.”

“Your dad always yelled at you for the tiniest things,” Aile finished. She shook her head. “And I’m sure I told you enough about the hell I put Eli through initially.”

Wally nodded and sniffled, running his Fletching-less sleeve over his face. “Mhmm.”

“Look, that was… that was different.” Aile’s circle on the roof started to look like a frowny face. “Eli reminded me a lot of a younger, more firebrand me.” She sat up straight when Wally peeked down at the drawing, wiping out the face with her left foot and locking Ginnis in a full hug with one smooth motion. 

Ginnis scrunched his face at Aile’s dirty left finger.

“Right.” Wally said. He brought his legs up to his chest, arms wrapped around his knees. Sunstorm hopped into the ground and pecked at a pile of ash. “I just.” He let out a heavy sigh. “He never responded to me either, you know?”

“Yeah. He’s not very good at that.” Aile glanced down at Ginnis wiggling away from her dirty finger. “Like how Ginnis hates my dirty finger, apparently.” 

Wally giggled for a split second. Good enough. 

“But he has his own issues too,” Aile said. She pressed her lips together, looking away as she felt Wally’s worried gaze. Burris had given her permission to help with this, certainly, but at the end of the day it wasn’t her place to go deep into this.

That’d be Burris’ job. Aile just needed to make it slightly easier.

“… Yeah.” Wally looked away and bobbed his head up and down. “You mentioned an ex?” he asked.

“Mhmm.” Aile rolled her neck around. “That’s… an issue, alright.”

Wally took one look at Aile’s eyes and knew she didn’t want to go further.

“Right, um.” Wally sighed as he reached for his PokeNav. “Guess I should… stop ignoring him, too.”

“A phone’s not the way to tackle this anyway,” Aile said, grinning widely. “Burris is on his way to Fallarbor anyway.”

Wally jumped up and spun towards Aile, Sunstorm chirping in surprise. “He is?!”

“Mhmm.” Aile nodded and rustled Wally’s hair. “So you’ll be able to figure things out. He’s… mmm.” She tapped a finger on her chin, Ginnis focused on Wally’s sudden burst of positive energy. “About a day and a half? Two? Away from here, I think.” 

“Right.” Wally took a deep focusing breath, shutting his eyes. His heart throbbed, swimming in all sorts of confusing and conflicting emotions. He played with his PokeNav a bit, contemplating it for a few seconds. “I did the same thing to him he did to me, didn’t I?” he muttered.

Aile shrugged. “Yeah, kinda.” She turned and gave Wally a reassuring grin. “But that’s why he’s on his way here. So you can, yanno. Talk shit out.”

Wally exhaled. “Right.” Thank Arceus for Aile coming in advance. He gave Aile a wide grin. “Thanks for telling me this, by the way. I…” He pressed his pointer fingers together as Ginnis disappeared from Aile’s lap and plopped down on Wally’s in a flash. Sunstorm chirped and flapped his wings at the Kirlia, eyes wide.

Aile and Wally shared a giggle.

“No problem,” Aile said, wrapping her arms around Wally and his tiny Pokemon. “No one has to face this alone.”

“Yeah,” Wally said, enjoying the warmth of the hug. “I’m just… glad you’ve been there.”

Aile withdrew from the hug, placing her hands on her hips. “Believe me, I wasn’t leaving a little sickly kid like you alone in that house.”

“I… appreciate that.” Wally’s head dipped. “I just… wish I had parents like Burris has.”

“Look,” Aile said, a surprising degree of sternness in her voice. “It doesn’t matter if your biological parents love you or not.” Wally’s head dipped further. Aile sighed. “It matters that you have others around you that care about you, that love you. It doesn’t matter who gave birth to you.”

Wally nodded for a few moments, before shaking his head. “It’s hard to look past that sometimes.”

“That’s partly why I convinced Bianca to take up your case and got you Ginnis, but consider the following.” Aile took a deep steadying breath, arms crossed tightly across her chest. “My biological dad was a sociopath who started a war and died before I was born. As for my biological mom…” Her blood began to boil a little. Mercifully it had been decades since she had passed, since she had turned Bianca and later Aile into glorified puppets, since she sent Unova into chaos and even longer since she left Aurea at the alter when Aile was still a baby.

The fire in Aile’s gut roared.

Sometimes remembering the satisfaction of stabbing her through the face helped Aile sleep at night.

She exhaled sharply and turned to Ginnis, observing Aile with a wary red eye.

“We don’t talk about her,” she finished with a sneer. She sighed and looked apologetically behind Wally. “Sorry Ginnis.”

Ginnis nodded, still wary.

“I… um, understand,” Wally said quietly, then smiled. “Besides, at the end of the day I have you, Miss Juniper.”

Aile felt a warm fuzzy feeling bubble up in her heart, melting away the rage from decades past in an instant. She ruffled Wally’s hair again before locking him into another hug.

“And I have you, sweetheart.”

The two stayed up in the sea of stars for what seemed like forever, talking about small unimportant odds and ends until Wally dozed off, asleep with a pair of pokemon in his lap. A bored nurse watched TV behind the desk as Aile’s hard soled shoes echoed out into the empty lobby, Wally carried in her arms. 

His door slid open with a hum. Aile bent her knees down, grimacing at her aching joints as she laid Wally down on his back. She grabbed Ginnis and Sunstorm and placed their heads on the pillow next to Wally’s own. Their light snores filled the room. 

She set a note down on Wally’s night stand before pausing at the door, looked back with a fluttering heart and a soft gaze. Even dealing with Steven again couldn’t ruin this night.

And as long as Wally felt comfortable talking things out with her, prepared the best he could to talk things out with Burris… well.

The door slid shut with a click behind Aile, leaving Wally sleeping in his moonlit room.


	26. Ashen Snow

Burris’ eyes blinked open, the illuminated tent around him forming into view. Tan walls did their best to filter out the morning sunrise, though it did less to filter out the sounds of Taillow chirping and bickering in the trees nearby. Burris stretched his arms above his head, shivering at the cold morning air. He grabbed for the first shirt he could see by his blue backpack, a light red one bordering on pink.

He considered a sweatshirt for a brief moment as he unzipped the front door, a burst of cold wind hitting him in the face. He grumbled and rubbed his eyes before grabbing for a blue sweatshirt with a “D” symbol on it, a grinning Sableye head sitting in the center of it with little devil horns.

The Mauville Blue Devils, one of the most successful college pokemon battling teams in the region. Some people didn’t like them very much, but Burris had liked them after accidentally catching a match as a young lad.

Plus, the sweatshirt was really cozy.

He felt the dirt and dew under his bare feet. He glanced at the nearby campfire, ashes doused by Tsunami and Robby before they went to bed the night before. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked up at the few spotty clouds up above, a few of them above the imposing Mt. Chimney, still wisping smoke into the bright blue sky.

His idle thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a second tent zipping open, and Sienna emerged from her light blue tent. Her pajama pants almost matched its color one for one; her top was a lose shirt, a garish pink color with faded logos from an old magical girl show.

She rubbed an eye and raised her other eyebrow at Burris. “A sweatshirt and gym shorts, Burris?”

“You didn’t point out the lack of shoes?” Burris questioned, toes playing in the cold wet grass.

Sienna shook her head and threw her hands up. “If you accidentally step on a Skarmory barefoot, it’s not my problem.” She yawned and crossed her arms, glancing between their two tents. “Do you have any breakfast bars left?”

“Yeah.” Burris kept a healthy supply of the blueberry around.

“Alright, I think we should get packed up and eat breakfast on the road,” Sienna said, bringing up her PokeNav. She chewed on a fingernail as she tapped around on the map. She looked down, skimmed the map, and nodded. “Yeah, if we leave now we have a shot of hitting Fallarbor before the sun goes down.”

Burris grunted and rolled his neck. “Yeah, that works.” He liked camping, but a night’s sleep in a PokeCenter bed would be really nice before engaging in actual conversation with someone. 

He wasn’t sure if an actual bed would help settle his nerves, though.

-

The tents went down quickly after Burris and Sienna changed, and the twins were off once again. Axel and Cinnamon sprinted around and ahead of the twins, Plusle and Minun engaging in what seemed to be a game of tag.

Terri lumbered along by Burris’ side, though Axel would occasionally tag her into the game. The Lombre tried her hardest to simply catch the two mice normally, but her limbs simply couldn’t keep up. She stopped for a few moments, eyed Axel, and placed her hands on the ground.

Axel squeaked in surprise as vines wrapped around him, eyes wide and arms and legs wiggling. Burris and Sienna watched as Terri took her sweet time walking up to Axel. The Plusle frowned and pouted, puffing his cheeks out at Terri as she tapped him on the head.

Cinnamon watched and giggled, only to sprint off seconds later with Axel hot on her heels.

“They’re great together, aren’t they?” Burris said, ducking beneath a tree branch. The road winded between the jagged cliffs that blocked the desert off from the rest of the mountainous path and the pine trees like the ones that surrounded their campsites. Ash falling could be seen just above the trees, coating an unseen area just around the bend.

“Yeah,” Sienna said. Her eyes drifted off towards a pair of trainers, one female with a Roselia and a male with a Bagon, spitting fire at the plant and forcing it to jump away. “There’s certainly more serious trainers out here…” 

“Hm?”

“I mean,” Sienna said. “Why else would most people be out this way? Even Contest trainers have to be serious about it if they’re heading to Fallarbor’s hall.” 

Burris leaned his cheek on his pointer finger. “Yeah, you’ve got a point.” He paused just in time to see Cinnamon chasing after Axel and Terri, the latter using tiny grass knots to keep tripping the Minun much to her annoyance. “There’s no gym up this way though.”

“Even so,” Sienna said. She counted on her fingers. “Skarmory, Seviper, Zangoose, Lunatone, Solrock, Bagon… There’s a lot of rare and powerful pokemon out this way too.” She placed her hands behind her head. “Makes you wonder how mom got Slade, really.”

“… Was that in Hoenn or Unova?” Burris rubbed his chin before sighing and bringing his hands down to his sides. “He’s always been around so it’s hard to remember.”

“Really? You don’t remember _that_ story?” Sienna plopped her hands down on her hips and shook her head. “Honestly, you are the most forgetful boy.”

“I’m sorry I don’t remember much before I was born, thank you!” Burris snapped back.

“She-” Sienna started with a pointer finger and mouth open, before bringing her hand up to her eyes and shutting her mouth. “Nevermind. She got it in Unova, like dad got Kong, They went off to adventure around Unova after they got engaged and found the two of them in Pinwheel Forest.”

“A Bagon and a Slakoth together? Weird.”

“Yeah, Slade was supposedly trying to mimic Kong too. Hanging off of the bottom of a branch. He plopped down right in front of mom head first.”

“God, that’s crazy,” Burris said, laughing. “Could you remember if that happened to anyone besides mom? They’d still be freaking out over a Bagon almost literally dropping into their laps.”

Sienna smirked and crossed her arms.

“She does, you just forgot about it.”

“I did not!” Burris protested. Axel stopped in front of the halted twins, Cinnamon nearly tripping to avoid slamming into Axel. Terri warbled and looked between the two of them, then the arguing twins.

“She’s told that story at least ten times! Dad like, fifteen more!”

“And here we go again,” Burris said. He crossed his arms. “You exaggerating everything to make me look like an idiot.”

“I could just ask them, they’d agree with me,” Siena replied, hands on her hips.

“They wouldn’t call me stupid!”

“No, they’d just agree politely with the amount of times the story’s been told,” Sienna said. The path underfoot turned from crunchy grass to tan dusty roads. A stray gust of wind lifted up a whiplash of dust, smacking Axel in the ace. Cinnamon and Terri stopped to look as Axel mumbled, spitting out dust and rubbing it off of his face with his paws.

A torrent of water doused him seconds later, leaving a drenched and annoyed Axel looking up at Terri, a sly grin on her face. Cinnamon, Sienna, and Burris blinked in near unison.

“… You guys alright?” Burris asked. Axel grumbled and shook out his fur. The droplets evaporated into the bone dry path seconds later. Burris laughed and walked past the pokemon and held his hands behind his head. “Guess so.”

“I’m not sure how much good that’ll do, though,” Sienna said. Burris tilted his head at her as they rounded the corner. The desert canyon was well out of sight now, and out in front of them the dull tan path gradually turned into ash covered plains. A few rocks jutted out here and there, the bushes were practically choked out by ash. The sun and sky was as well, the bright blue transitioning into a dull winter-like cloud cover. A few Spinda meandered back and forth in the bushes, while Sandshrew dug through the ash for food. 

“Oh.” Burris felt the ground beneath him shift from solid to ash, almost like a silky cover on the ground. The entire area smelled like an extinguished campfire. Burris then, wisely, decided to inhale. 

Sienna looked up from affixing surgical masks to the three pokemon just in time to see Burris in the midst of a coughing fit. She shook her head and handed Burris a mask, pure white. For now.

Burris snapped the rubber band on the back of his head, and took in a heavy breath of fresh air. “That’s better.”

“I’ve got a bunch if we need more,” Sienna said. The ash shifted beneath the crew’s feet as they walked into the ash choked route. “With all of the ash in the air we’ll probably need two or three before we’re to Fallarbor.”

“Right.” Fallarbor. They couldn’t even see it past the choking ash rain, but they were only a few hours away now. Burris felt stress grip his heart, and he was glad he had the mask to hide his grimace. “I’m assuming you-“

Sienna spun a pair of masks around her finger after rolling her eyes. “Of course I do.”

The last time Burris remembered experiencing snow, he was five. Back in Asperita, Sienna and he played in the backyard, “trapping” Jack in a snow cast while Leia and Mom looked on all the while. He didn’t remember much about Unova, but snow tended to stick out in your mind when you lived in a tropical region for so long.

Supposedly there was a cave near Mossdeep that had an elaborate maze of ice and snow deep inside, Snorunt and Spheal and other ice types living in the only place they really could in Hoenn. Burris could only imagine the icicles and snowbanks locked away inside the cave.

He could, however, imagine what a snowball pelting his face felt like when a packed-up bunch of dirt and ash smashed him in the face.

“Axel!” Sienna chastised while Burris wiped the grime from his face. The Plusle squeaked and pointed an accusation at Terri. 

The Lombre squawked indignantly in the face of Sienna’s glare, though the half crumbled “snowball” behind her betrayed her intentions. Cinnamon giggled and walked past the others, the Minun pausing to stare up at the ash trickling down from the skies above.

Her ears twitched at the sounds of metallic screeching nearby. Sienna held up a hand, the group falling quiet as the screeching grew loudly and loudly. Sienna grabbed for Tsunami’s poke ball, the Swampert sending ash flying back into the air as he crashed down into the ashen wonderland. Terri walked back and forth a few paces, forming some sort of protective barrier with Tsunami around both sets of twins. 

“There, Tsunami!” A flash of metal caught Burris’ attention, faint light glinting off of the claws of a Skarmory, talons swooping down towards the mice and humans. Axel and Minun’s cheeks sparked with electricity, though a fist from Tsunami forced the bird to pull up.

“I realize we’re intruding, but why us and literally not anything else here?” Burris questioned. Tsunami growled and shook his arm, small red scratches down his right forearm. 

“We can figure it out later!” Sienna said. She pointed at the bird as it circled up above. “If we can get it paralyzed we can get it to Birch’s.”

“Terri, wait and Water Gun. Axel! Wait for it to drop down and then Thunder Wave it!” 

“Tsunami, Cinnamon, follow their lead!”

Burris blinked at Sienna, but before long the repeated screeching cries of the Skarmory became quickly louder and louder. The Skarmory deftly shifted to the right, Terri’s burst of water only leaving a few harmless droplets falling off its left wing. Down, and Tsunami’s torrent of water went roaring up above it, leaving its metallic hide damp but-

And then it cried in realization as both mice launched debilitating waves of electricity to each side of it. Static electricity jumped from the waves through the Skarmory’s wet hide, causing it to stop its straight descent. Beating its wings, it dipped slowly to the right, then to the left, and then landed in the soft ashen dirt with a plop. Ash and water mixed around its immobilized body, the Skarmory glaring at the group as Burris procured a blue and white capsule.

Burris swore its gaze remained even as it dissolved into red light, and hardly protested against the Great Ball before it clicked shut. 

“Huh, she,” Burris muttered, typing another note to Birch as his DexNav recorded the Skarmory’s data. “Uuuuh… Chromia. That’s a good name, I think.” He was faintly aware of Sienna and Tsunami navigating the nearby bushes as Chromia’s poke ball popped out of existence. 

“Oh.” Sienna’s voice brought Burris back. “The nest.” 

Burris felt the ash rub off from the coarse grass onto his exposed legs, and for once in his life regretted not wearing pants. He stopped by Sienna, and stood over a nest filled with broken eggs.

“Oh.”

The route gradually grew dimmer and darker as the twins trudged on. Tsunami and Axel took the lead, patrolling ahead to head off other wild pokemon. Terri and Cinnamon walked by the twin’s side, chatting about something or another. Burris guessed some of the conversation revolved around Axel. 

“What time is it?” Burris asked. 

“About 6:45, ish? Maybe 7:00,” Sienna brought up her yellow PokeNav and squinted at it. “Huh.”

Burris raised an eyebrow. “Huh what?”

“It says its “you have a PokeNav too” o’clock.”

The twins stuck their tongues out at each other. Or, well, Burris knew he did. Judging by Sienna’s lean and her hands on her hips she was too. 

By the time the group could tell the sun was setting, they could see the lights and buildings in the small valley down below. The clouds parted about Fallarbor, the atmospheric conditions keeping away the ash and permanent overcast conditions away from the small little town. Rain here was as likely as finding a wild shiny pokemon.

“Well, here we are,” Sienna said, walking up to the edge of the incline. The pokemon hovered around behind them, the mice hanging out on Tsunami’s shoulders while Terri hung out on the ground. Burris swallowed, and a small part of him hoped the mask would disguise his nerves. Even if it was a disgusting shade of gray now.

He felt Sienna pat him on his shoulder. “You’ll be fine.” She smiled. It helped the knot in Burris’ stomach loosen. “Get some rest.”

“Yeah,” Burris nodded, ripping off his gunk-filled mask. He took in a deep breath of beautiful fresh air. “Yeah.” He started to say something before a giant yawn drowned it out for a moment. “It’s already late and I’m exhausted.”

He had no idea how he’d sleep with this being so close, though.

“Exactly,” Sienna said. She smiled and showed off her PokeNav. “And if you need anything, just call.”

Burris laughed a little. “Of course.”

The two embraced in a light hug. Cinnamon and Axel did the same. Tsunami’s massive right hand engulfed Terri’s as they shook hands.

Before long Burris and his crew waved towards Sienna’s, and they waved back. Burris grew smaller and smaller before becoming one of many specks of people down in the valley below. Sienna fiddled with the device in her hand for a few seconds before tapping the screen a few times and bringing it up to her left ear. Cinnamon chirped and held a hand up to her mouth, while Tsunami crossed his arms.

“Anabel? Yeah, it’s Sienna. Just dropped Burris off in Fallarbor.” She took a few paces. “No, I didn’t see Aqua or Magma following him.” She rolled her eyes. “And no I still don’t believe you about that.” She let out an exasperated sigh, holding two fingers to her forehead. “Look, Grandpa says mystifying things all the time, just because he told you and Aile this…”

She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “We can debate this more when I’m not in the middle of nowhere, can you send Steven to pick me up please?”


	27. An Axe To Break The Ice

People streamed out of the contest hall next to Burris, chatting all the while about some wonderful play they had just seen. It starred pokemon, of course, usually those also trained in contests for appeal as well.

It sounded wonderful, but as Burris felt the gentle cool air of the PokeCenter wash over him, he remembered he wasn’t here for fun. Burris’ footsteps could be heard throughout the lobby, and he glanced back and forth at the many empty couches and tables. 

He supposed there wasn’t much to do here for a trainer besides pass on through. 

“Hello, welcome to the PokeCenter!” A nurse with a forced cheery tone greeted him. He couldn’t blame her; she probably had the night shift. “How can I help you?”

Burris leaned on the cool sanitized red counter. “I-“ he started, before the words “Is Wally Anderson here?” got caught in his throat. He felt his aching muscles, his drooping eyes. Not the time. He felt the awkwardness in the conversation set in. “I’d like a room, please.”

“Of course,” the nurse replied. She nodded and shifted to the computer. The clacking of her keyboard followed--Burris could tell this was an older model of computer than a normal center would have. His eyes drifted across the center, tracking across the many sets of ashen footprints on the old cracked tile floor. 

They certainly didn’t put much money into this place. But who would bother with Fallarbor? A nice part of the region, absolutely, but it was at least a day’s trek to the nearest gym. The only saving grace was that there were some rarer species up this far north, including Bagon and Skarmory.

He remembered Chromia for a brief moment before the nurse set down his keys with a clang. Old bronze rusted… things. Did they not have key cards?

_I’m just distracting myself from what’s coming, aren’t I?_

“Here you go. Third door on the right.”

“Thanks.”

Burris felt the bordering on the rusted keys in his hands as the stairs up to the second floor creaked underfoot. It reminded him of when he’d sneak downstairs for a late night snack as a child, when every step seemed to be ten times louder than it actually was.

He glanced at the faded gray paint on the walls and wondered if he could put in a good word with Dad to try and get more funding for this place.

Mercifully for everyone involved, Wally was not to be found in the dead silence of the small upstairs hall. Burris counted out only eight rooms in a short hallway, illuminated by a set of humming and occasionally flickering ceiling lights. He inserted the keys gently into a plain bronze knob and turned. 

The keys did not break and neither did the door knob. The darkness inside the room tried to hide the cracks in the tile, the obvious plastered over hole in the wall, and failed miserably at both. 

He shrugged and plopped down on his bed. Oddly enough, it didn’t creak more than any old PokeCenter bed. He glanced outside, the street lights illuminating parts of the sidewalks. The crowd from the theater had died out entirely, leaving only an occasional stranger wandering around Fallarbor’s dusty streets.

Burris’s head hit his pillow. He couldn’t imagine what drove people to bother coming out all this way.

Well, he knew his own reason. He glanced down at his ashen clothes and sighed.

“Somehow I forgot to change.”

In a moment, his gray and dirty clothes were in a gym bag in the corner of his room, replaced by light blue gym shorts and not much else. He wiped some of the leftover dirt off of his bed and sat down. 

Flashing a glance at the PokeNav on his bed, he contemplated it.

Then he reached for it and scrolled down through the name in his text history. Probably ten or so in number, including a quick chat with Roxanne, and then there was Wally’s. A date sat by the last text Burris sent. Almost two weeks since Wally had last texted him.

He exhaled and his finger hovered over the conversation. A quick text, that was all.

<9:21 pm> hey, I’m in fallarbor

He typed, then deleted, then typed again. Words came and went, sometimes forming long paragraphs that bordered on apologies, but the better part of him deleted those. This trip had happened for a reason, after all. He scratched his eyes and yawned as he stared at the simple sentence in front of him.

Then he pressed send.

<9:30 pm> want to meet up tomorrow morning?

Burris set down the device, careful not to place it on top of the keys for fear of breaking them, on the wooden nightstand. He sat on the edge of his bed for a few seconds, the PokeNav lifeless and dead. The paranoid part of him wasted no time in suggesting that Aile might’ve failed to talk to Wally. Burris couldn’t completely shove those thoughts back into a closet.

He scowled and wrapped himself up in fuzzy blankets. Burris told himself he was trying to sleep. In reality he was waiting for that screen to light up again. 

He tossed again and peaked outside. The moon sat higher in the sky now. He groaned and turned back towards his night stand. Nothing. 

His eyes drifted towards a pair of Poke Balls haphazardly scattered on top of it. He grabbed for the two center ones, distinct scratches from years of use guiding him towards one while the other one was pure collateral. Twin flashes of light lit up all of the cracks and imperfections in the room, and small multi colored dots fluttered through Burris’ vision after the light faded.

Robby yawned and stretched his arms above his head. Jonesy’s half shut blue eyes regarded Burris with some measure of confusion. They followed Burris as he turned to his phone.

“I… hi,” Burris muttered, hardly above a whisper. Robby crossed his arms and chirped, head tilted. “Yeah, struggling to sleep.” He turned and reached for the PokeNav; maybe it just hadn’t lit up, technology was strange like that, maybe-

A pink and white ribbon snapped around Burris’ wrist, fingers an inch away from his device. “Wha- Jonesy!” Burris flashed an annoyed look at the Sylveon. “I just wanted to see if Wally responded!” he hissed.

Jonesy whined and managed the best puppy dog eyes he could at Burris.

It melted through Burris annoyed gaze as Jonesy rubbed his head up Burris’ side. It left his head just at the right level for pats from his trainer. Burris smiled and ran his hand through Jonesy’s fur, then Robby sat down on the opposite side of Burris, his small arms doing their best to wrap around Burris’ waist.

“Fine, you too,” Burris said. They sat there like that for a little while before Burris felt his eyes droop. The bedspring creaked as he laid down again, Jonesy and Robby curling up on both sides of him. Burris unrumpled his fuzzy blankets on top of him and his twin pokemon, his paranoia and worries set aside by the comfort.

And at the precise moment he nearly drifted off, his phone rumbled against the nightstand.

<10:58 pm> Sorry I was distracted! That sounds good!

 

-

 

The next thing Burris remembered was the light trickling in from the windows. His eyes blinked once, then twice. He rubbed his eyes and blinked again, the worn down room coming into full view. He ran his right hand through Jonesy’s fur, the Sylveon stirring ever so slightly from the touch.

He shot up and grabbed his phone. Jonesy grumbled and hopping out of the suddenly moving bed. Robby looked past Burris’ waist.

Burris sighed and relaxed as he looked at the time. 8:03 am, displayed in all of its bland pixelated splendor on a plain white backdrop. He threw his feet off of his bed, catching a glimpse of Jonesy peering out the window at the sleepy town below. Robby chittered with annoyance and grabbed the covers, throwing them over his head.

“What would dad say about this?” Burris teased, eliciting no response. “I didn’t know Jack raised a lazy bum.”

Robby pulled the covers down just long enough to spit his tongue at Burris.

-

Burris took in a breath and the scent of mountain fresh body wash and damp hair played with his nostrils. His steps nearly echoed in this small hallway; Burris wondered if there were any other trainers here besides Wally and him.

It’d probably be for the best if there weren’t. Burris doubted he could trust the soundproofing of this PokeCenter. He stopped at the door just before the cracked tan stairs heading down into the lobby, a bored nurse yawning over a cup of coffee and watching some early morning talk show or another. 

Burris shook his head, feeling the knot in his stomach. He couldn’t help but try and distract himself when he was nervous, he supposed. 

He raised his fist an inch away from the door. He took in a breath. His fist stopped a centimeter short of the worn wooden door. He took a deeper, steadying, breath.

He knocked. A pause of silence followed by apologies and tossing off blankets and “Let me get dressed quick!” and “I’m so sorry!” and bags being zipped open and clothes being hastily changed and thrown on and hasty footsteps followed by the lock opening and then the door and then there was Wally and holy _shit_ did he go from pajamas to proper clothes in two minutes flat?

“It’s..” Wally paused, nodded, and then smiled. Genuinely. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Yeah,” Burris said, smiling a little. “Same.”

The room smelled and looked much the same as Burris’. Wally’s pajamas laid sprawled out over his hiking backpack, a nice shade of pink on the pajama pants with Ralts dancing around Kirlias on them. Burris couldn’t help but wonder who got them for him.

The bed springs creaked as Wally sat down on them. He drummed his fingers and looked to the ground as if it’d tell him how to proceed with this. Burris didn’t have any better answers, only mimicking Wally and sitting on the other half of the bed. Judging by the way it bent upon impact, Burris legitimately wondered how it hadn’t broken by now.

Probably because almost no one used it.

“So Fallarbor’s pretty, isn’t it?” Wally said, looking to Burris. His smile was a little more forced now at the prospect of an actual conversation.

“Yeah. Route 113 was incredible too.” 

“Yeah!” Wally lit up, clasping his hands. “It’s amazing how that ash fall happens, isn’t it?” 

“I’d be lying if I knew ho-“

“- so there’s a ton of ash that falls from Mt. Chimney, right?” Wally held his finger up as he explained. “So there’s, um, the atmospheric conditions causes the ash to pretty much fall exclusively on this side of the mountain, and it’s been that way for thousands of years.” Burris spared a glance at the PokeNav on Wally’s nightstand, and wondered just what documentary the boy had been watching last night. “Supposedly it’ll shift occasionally, but no one really knows why or how.”

“I see,” Burris said, nodding politely. He jabbed a thumb towards the PokeNav. “I’m guessing you read up on it?”

“Documentary, actually! There was one on Fallarbor and the surrounding areas last night so I got caught up in it.” Wally chuckled, shut his eyes, and rubbed the back of his head. “So I was… kinda late on replying to you.” His smile turned awkward. “Sorry.”

Burris shook his head. “No worries.” Burris opened his mouth, then shut it. He turned away in a hurry, mind racing. What could he even say to break into this? It was easy enough to say you were going to talk things over, to say you were going to work things out, but judging by Wally’s fidgeting he had just about as much of an idea as Burris did on how to start the talk. Not idle talk, not avoiding the talk talk, just the actual talk they needed to have weeks ago and never did because there was a reason Burris _didn’t_ like to talk about this and yet-

“I’m sorry,” Burris let out, almost jumping as the words escaped his lips. He drummed his fingers nervously, right hand sliding down to Robby’s capsule clipped onto his belt as if it was primal instinct to clutch for his security blanket.

Wally’s hands clenched his sheets, hands trembling and body shaking. “For what?” Wally said, voice quivering. “I-I mean I just sort of. Assumed, you know?”

“I-“ Burris started, then swallowed.

“I shouldn’t have,” Wally muttered. He looked down to his belt, silently grateful he had the state of mind to keep Ginnis away. He felt his heart sink. “I… I was mad, but Aile talked to me and-“ He shook his head and stretched his arms towards Burris. “Why are you the one that’s apologizing?”

“Because-“ Burris started. He shook his head and gritted his teeth. “Because I didn’t tell you anything, Wally!” he said, raising his voice. He bit his lips and crossed his arms, Wally’s stare tugging at the corner of his sight. Burris sighed, throwing his hands up before he points them towards Wally. “You had no idea to not, yanno, back off or anything, I didn’t…” Burris brought his arms into his chest and bit his lip, eyes dropping towards Robby’s capsule. “I didn’t tell you anything.” He drummed his fingers. “And I know you’d understand.”

“I…” Wally trailed off, his mind drifting towards Aile once more. His eyes dropped down, then up towards Burris. “Still should’ve asked you.” Wally rubbed his arms and stared out the window, curtains blocking both sunlight and the outside world. He shut his eyes. “About all of this.”

“… Yeah,” Burris murmured. Anxiety set in, butterflies staring to churn in his stomach. In one fluid motion he grabbed and tossed up Robby’s capsule onto the bed like a lazy pop up. Robby grumbled and chittered, eyes adjusting to the room’s light. Burris patted Robby on the head, still looking to Wally as Robby peered up at him. “You see…”

Robby felt Burris’ hand tremble. 

“I…”

Wally could make out a bead sweat dripping down Burris’ face, his eyes wide. Wally’s own silence gnawed at his conscious.

“Take your time, Burris,” Wally said in a quiet tone he didn’t know he had until a few moments ago. Robby squeaked in what Wally assumed was agreement. Burris’ right arm dropped down and wrapped around Robby’s waist, bringing him in close.

Burris’ heartbeats filled Roby’s left ear.

“R-right.” Burris swallowed, then nodded. “Right. I… have an ex.”

A lump formed in Wally’s throat. Burris’ nerves radiated off of him; it felt like fear.

“Miss Juniper told me that,” he said quietly, hoping for it to be some form of reassurance, that he wasn’t just sitting here knowing nothing about anything. 

Like before.

“I… yeah, right, I kind of figured.” Burris settled somewhat, Wally noting that his stance softened. Robby peaked up at Burris, then turned to Wally. Wally couldn’t help but wonder what was going through the Dewott’s head. “He…” 

Burris turned away in a blink, eyes half shut and exhaling sharply through his nose. Wally felt a pit in the stomach at the sight of Burris shuddering. Wally’s hands gripped his knees, mind racing as he tried to figure out what to do, what to say-

Burris stared back at Wally, shut his eyes, and took in a breath. He opened his eyes and Wally imagined that Burris did his best to throw away his anxiety with another exhale.

“He did a lot of bad things to me,” Burris said. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, though Robby forced his head between Burris’ hands. Wally watched a smile barely form on Burris’ face as he squeezed Robby’s cheeks. 

Wally realized he should say something, but Arceus knew what. No one trained him for this, what should he say, do?

“I’m sorry,” Wally blurted out. It felt like he defaulted to it. “Again.” He crossed his arms over his stomach and hunched over, unsure if Burris even heard his whisper until he saw him and Robby staring back. “I…” Wally gulped and shook as guilt creeped to the forefront of his conscious. “I don’t know, I shouldn’t have pushed, I should’ve at least.” Wally threw his hands up. “Tried to ask. About literally anything.”

Robby tilted his head and chirped, his soft gaze turning to a glare up at Burris.

“I know,” Burris muttered softly, head impacting softly with the wall. “It’s not your fault I brushed you off,” he said. Burris shook his head. “Or…” His shoulders dropped. “And I shouldn’t have yelled at you either.” Robby chirped _something_ unintelligible to Wally. “Robby’s right too,” Burris muttered. “I told him this enough, I guess, but I just.” Burris bit his lip. “I didn’t think anyone would want me after all of that, either. So… I’m sorry.” Burris’ voice turned to a whisper. “You didn’t deserve that.”

Wally clasped his hands in his lap, blue eyes locked intently on them. He saw Burris staring down at the bed, Robby glancing back and forth between the two. Wally pursed his lips, twiddled his thumbs. Burris glanced out the window. The silence became deafening, drowning out everything besides the three of them and Wally was thankfully he had the state of mind to keep Ginnis in his ball for this or he’d go crazy. 

Still, Burris came all the way out here for a reason, right? He told Wally about _that_ , even if in the vaguest of terms and Arceus be damned if Wally was going to judge Burris for not diving in further than that.

Finally, the words came to Wally.

“I think we should try again.” Burris peeked up at Wally. Wally’s heart skipped a beat. “J-just. Actually try, you know?” He couldn’t _promise_ anything but since the conversation with Aile the thought had been nagging at the back of his mind. “I dunno, go explore together, talk with one another, just…” Wally threw up his hands. “Just have a second chance at all of this.”

“Yeah,” Burris said after what felt like an eternity. Wally’s heart rose. “I think we should.”


	28. Duality

Steven sometimes wondered how he got involved with all of these things.

He sighed and scanned around Aile’s bedroom, Alakazam whiskers twitching all the while. Small Christmas lights lined the windows and he rolled his eyes as he turned to the positively massive tan sack, filled to the brim and sitting just on Aile’s side of the bed. He shook his head at the sounds of activity from the adjoined bathroom, behind a cream white door.

The door creaked open, Aile’s mess of brunette and gray hairs were partially hidden beneath a traditional Santa hat, matching what Steven could see of the rest of her garish outfit.

“Oh good, Anabel managed to force you here,” Aile said, grinning widely.

Steven scowled and crossed his arms. “This is patently absurd, even by your standards.” He jabbed a spoon towards the sack. “Do I even want to know what’s in the-”

“Nudes.” Steven rolled his eyes. Aile’s smirk grew. “Of Anabel.”

Steven’s eyes widened, then narrowed like daggers that bounced harmlessly off of Aile’s back She vanished into the bathroom fully once more.

“You lie.”

“Do I?” Aile said, emerging with a fake white beard currently hanging by one black string off of the hat, twirling around leisurely. “You could just read my mind.”

Steven crossed his arms and gave Aile an even colder glare. Out of all of the people he couldn’t read in the whole entire world, one of them had to be _Aile_.

“Or you could actually check the b-“

“Absolutely _not_.”

“Oh!” Aile chimed, biting her tongue as she tied the second string onto the hat. “So you _do_ think there’s nudes in there.”

“I-” Steven scowled and bared his teeth at the sound of Aile laughing and popping out of sight into the bathroom. “You are _deranged_.”

“That’s not very nice, Rudolph!” Aile shouted, before the sounds of her digging through a drawer hit the Alakazam’s ears. 

“Ru-what?” Steven’s eyes widened. 

Aile opened the door, holding a blinking red light that seemed to double as a cartoon-y nose, and a set of fake fuzzy antlers, the tan failing to imitate a Deerling’s antlers rather spectacularly. 

“Rudolph the red-nosed Deerling!” Aile said. She took a couple of dangerous steps closer to Steven.

“You are not putting those on me.” Steven raised his spoons. Aile cackled and took a couple of other steps. “I am _leaving._ ” His spoons glowed with a soft blue light.

“And what, disobey Anabel?” Aile closed within a few feet of Steven. “Or risk that bag actually being full of nudes?”

The sound that Steven let out could not be accurately described as anything _but_ keyboard smashing doubling as dialogue.

Aile seemed to tower over Steven, the Alakazam getting a full look at Aile’s revoltingly red outfit as her imposing black boots stopped a foot, maybe two, away. What human willingly put on a bright red coat with white fluff? Did she murder a group of Swablu’s to make that outfit?

“I will bite you if you put those on.”

“Hah!” Aile said, hands on her hips. “You don’t learn Bite.”

A vein pulsed out of Steven’s head, thoughts about scooping Aile’s brain out with a spoon for that god-forsaken stupid “durr you can’t learn how to bite/eat/breathe” joke _again_ because she hadn’t rotated jokes for the past-

Steven flinched as he felt the blinking red nose snap into place, the fuzzy antlers resting on his head. 

“I will tell Anabel about how demoralizing this was.” He glared at Aile. She grunted and focused on throwing her worm tan sack over her shoulders, patches of darker cloth sewn on.

“Good, I’m sure she’ll find it funny.” 

Steven growled. 

“C’mon Rudolph.” Aile dug a red mitten into her right pocket, and procured a list of buildings and addresses. “We got a whole lot of places to go tonight, and a lot of nu-“

“I will cut you if you finish that statement.” Aile opened her mouth, and Steven pointed a spoon threateningly in an instant. “And don’t you _dare_ repeat that stupid move joke!”

-

The gentle heat from inside the hospital washed over Aile and Steven as they walked in. A nurse at the desk, wrinkles nearly a match for Aile though her pink hair was not, waved and smiled at the duo.

“Aile!” she said. “It’s so good to see you again.”

Aile dropped the bag to the ground and walked up with arms wide. The two embraced in a warm hug.

“Of course, Marie,” she said, retreating. Steven stood back with the bag and spared a split second glance at it. His nerves stood on end as did his toes. He quirked an eyebrow at the Spheal plush staring out at him, on top of a proverbial toy store’s worth of other plush toys. “I’m not too late, am I?”

“Nope!” the nurse nodded. A little later than usual, but hardly anything to get worked up about. “Still about, mmmm.” She glanced up at the clock ticking away. “Nine Castelia time.”

“Oh good,” Aile said. She pointed her hands towards Steven. “My reindeer was a little fussy this year.”

“I hate both of you, for the record,” Steven pointed out, scowling. 

Aile ignored him. Marie chuckled.

“Oh, I’m sure the children don’t mind.”

-

The sound of Aile’s heavy boots echoed throughout the empty halls. Steven elected to stay in the lobby, presumably to avoid being humiliated by Aile for the tenth time this night. She didn’t mind; normally she’d have Katara act as one of her reindeer, but this year someone had adopted one of the Spheals for Christmas and Aile wouldn’t have denied her Walrein sending off another of her young to a trainer for the world.

It’d be sad to have one less adorable pudgy pillow to sleep on though. She hummed and tapped her foot, the elevator doors shutting. Floor one, floor two… three. 

Aile had never liked hospitals very much, she remembered stepping out into the sterile white and gray hallway. She had some beautiful moments in them, but she never could quite forget the horrible ones. Still, her blue eyes bounced back and forth between all of the doors down this hall. She checked the list of room numbers Marie gave her, on a worn scroll with children’s names attached to them. At some point in these last few decades Marie had gone all out in making this look “authentic”, down to the worn edges and dirty paper. A gold string hung off of one end, allowing Aile to tie it together like a scroll.

She skimmed the list. 30~ names in total spending the night here. Aile adjusted her tan cloth sack on her shoulders and looked down the hall.

“Santa’s got her work cut out for her,” she muttered, walking down the hall. She stopped at the first door, took a breath, and knocked loudly. The door muffled the sounds of an excited child, squeezing with delight and her parents laughing. Aile swung the door open triumphantly, and let out a mighty “Ho ho ho!”

“Santa!” the little blonde girl exclaimed, small white tubes attached to her forearm and chest. 

“Carrie!” Aile replied back. The parents looked on and held hands, smiling and whispering to each other at the sight of their positively beaming little girl. Carrie’s tired bags under her eyes didn’t escape Aile’s notice, but she grinned all the same. Aile plopped her sack down at the end of Carrie’s bed. “You found your way onto my nice list this year!” Aile said, feeling Carrie’s anticipation and gaze as Santa dug through the bag. 

“Hmmm, you strike me as a…” Aile rummaged some more. In one swift motion, Aile revealed a small pink kitten creature, eyes shut and mouth slightly agape as cutely as the toy maker could manage. “A Skitty girl!”

Carrie clapped and squealed, grabbing and hugging the Skitty. “Yeeeeeess! Thank you Santa!” 

Aile stood up straight and pat the blonde on the head. “Anytime, Carrie!” She turned and flashed a thumbs up towards the parents.

“Um, Santa?” Carrie’s soft voice grabbed Aile’s attention. “Um…” She twiddled her thumbs.

Aile bent her knees down just enough to be at Carrie’s eye level. “You can say anything you want, Carrie.”

“I-isn’t Santa supposed to be a boy?” she asked. Aile blinked. Not in goddamn decades of doing this had she been asked that question. She could practically feel the parents behind her opening their mouths to apologize… and then she let out a belly laugh and ruffled Carrie’s hair.

“Santa can be whatever she wants to be, sweetheart.”

Aile repeated the process until the clock struck midnight and a little past. Some children were sleeping, so Aile asked the parents what Pokemon they liked. Some were clearly weaker than Carrie, whether recovering from surgery or still fighting off illness.

The night came to a close, and Aile checked off the last name on her list. She felt her body aching, her eyes drooping ever so slightly. A soft smile stuck to her face. This never got old; not in the decades of doing this, not ever. As long as Aile could leave the house, she’d do this every Christmas until the end of ages.

She looked up from her completed checklist, and peered at the numbers on the doors. 3100 through 3120… She looked down at her watch; Bianca wouldn’t expect her home for another half hour, fourty-five minutes. 

Time for one last stop. 

She ripped her beard off and tossed it into the now empty sack, soon followed by her sweat-stained hat. 3111, 3112… 3113. The door hung open just a crack, darkness choking out the room. There wasn’t anyone in here; Marie’s list would’ve mentioned it. 

Still, she remembered when Wally was in here. A decade and change now? Castelia’s children’s hospital took in severe cases from all over the world. Unova was behind on many things, but their hospitals were very much world class all the same. Back in the immediate aftermath of the war doctors who fled Kanto ended up with colleagues in Unova, and they worked together to create magic. Or in other words, something that Aile had never really understood but it seemed cool, ergo magic.

She knocked on the door just to be safe. Children that were stuck in the hospital overnight almost always had their parents right by their side, at the minimum in the hotel set up next door. During holidays, parents were always with their children, as the regions had mostly agreed upon off days for the more universal holidays.

Aile peaked inside. A few of the machines sat lifeless, things made of metal and orbs and tubes and math that Aile would never try to comprehend and probably made less sense than her powers. A distinctly not-made bed sat there, a pair of chairs brought in from somewhere else in the hospital were left at haphazard angles near the bed. Marie would’ve torn into the janitors if this had been left for too long.

Aile visualized Wally there; alone and nervous, frail and scared. She remembered promising to come back after handing out toys to the rest of the good girls and boys, remembered very nearly breaking character right then and there. She came back with a stack of books from the front desk, and told Wally stories until he fell asleep.

She shifted on the edge of the doorway, arms crossed and bottom lip bit. Aile left him with the remainder of the plush toys that night and wished she could do more. She had convinced Bianca to dump money into his case, use foundation funds to get Wally a pokemon, used Eli’s connections with Professor Birch to get him a pokedex, a Treecko, a new lease on life.

Aile hoped the child that had just left this room went with that similar sense of hope. She froze at the thought of the alternative, and shuddered violently. She shut the door with a click and walked back down the hall to the elevator. The doors slid open to greet her, and she stepped in with hardly a sound.

Hopefully Wally’d figure it out with Burris. Something, anything, romance or friendship otherwise. Wally needed someone, and so did Burris.

The doors shut tight, Santa having done her work for the night.


	29. A Trip For Two

Burris ran his hands through his curly deep brown hair, some of it hanging down to the sides of his cheeks. He couldn’t remember the last time it was this long- two months away from a barber shop would do that- but he did remember how much he liked it, looking at it. A small, self-confident, smile sat on his face, hiding his nerves underneath.

The movies always claimed it was so simple; boy finds boy, boy falls in love with boy, contrived conflict happens and eventually the boy gets the boy and they live happily ever after. Burris thought back to the time when Aile told him about the movies from when she was a little girl; how it was always boy meets girl, boy gets girl through questionable means, actor in real life gets disowned when it turns out boy assaults girl. Or twenty.

See, the reality of the matter was that movies didn’t know shit about romance. Boy meets boy, boy realizes he’s falling for other boy, boy panics, other boy doesn’t pick up on it and pushes it a step too far, boy freaks out, boys wonder if they’re meant for one another to begin with.

That sort of storyline? That would get fanboys bitching to the internet about how the director wrote a B-movie script and how it read like something written on a Timblurr blog. 

The reality of the matter, Burris thought as he clicked off the flickering lights and shut the door, was that things were much more complicated.

-

Burris exhaled sharply and stood in front of Wally’s door, loose red t-shirt and black bike shorts complimenting Burris’ blue eyes. This wasn’t a date, he told himself; neither of them knew how this would go and neither would dare claim otherwise.

Still, he could hear Sienna teasing him about his insistence in the back of his head.

He knocked, a lighter one than from the day before. A few quick, almost prepared, steps followed, and soon enough Wally stood in the door, wearing a light-fitting gray t-shirt and a longer pair of blue gym shorts, strands of fabric poking out to show how much they had been worn.

“Hi,” Wally said, standing in the doorframe and hands clasped in front of his waistline. 

Burris noticed the pounding in his chest seconds before the awkward silence set in and forced a smile through his nerves. “What do you want to do first?”

“Well,” Wally stopped, then hummed. “There’s a nice little fossil-theme souvenir shop on the outside of town.” He adjusted the straps of his backpack, tent hanging off the bottom of it. Between Route 114 and all of its tourist attractions, coupled with the expansive Meteor Falls, one could easily find themselves spending the night under the stars instead of the Fallarbor PokeCenter.

“Sure,” Burris said.

“A-and maybe after that we go see the waterfall? It’s supposed to be quite a sight.” Wally pressed his pointer fingers together. “If you don’t mind.”

“We can do whatever you want to do.” Burris’ grin grew wider and he shrugged. “You’re the one that’s a bit of a nerd about these things and I’m not really picky.”

“A bit of a nerd?” Wally said, eyes slanted and a wry smile on his face.

“You did talk to me at length about nature documentaries yesterday,” Burris leaned in.

Wally crossed his arms, his smile growing bigger. “And who told me that they still watch superhero shows?”

“Hey.” Burris squinted. “Justice League is a _classic_ -“

“And magical girl shows.”

“So is Sailor Moon-“

“And shows with giant robots.” 

“I’m really not entirely sure how you live without Transformers.” Burris exaggerated a shrug.

“And you say I talked forever about documentaries when…” Wally paused, scrolling through his phone. He held it up to Burris face, one simple grey text blob from Wally about robots leading to a big block of text. And another. And Wally rolled his screen down a few blocks, passing a third and a fourth and a fifth and-

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Burris waved off the texts. “You have receipts.”

“That you’re a much bigger nerd than me, yes.”

-

The sun hung low in the morning sky, Fallarbor’s dirt pathways doubling as sidewalks bustling with people. Relatively speaking; it felt more like Rustboro on a weekday night. Music and cheers could be heard as the pair passed the contest hall.

“It’s amazing how people do that sort of thing for a living, you know?” Burris said, looking back at the brilliant red building sticking out like a sore thumb amid the dust and cheap wooden buildings.

“Contests? I’ve always just viewed it as a different type of training.” Wally hummed. He always wondered how many kids found their way out of home through the contest scene; stories about trainers coming out of bad homes to do something special were littered all over fiction and the news, but contests always seemed to play second fiddle to battles.

It didn’t play second fiddle to the kids that found their ticket out through it. Wally would’ve tried for it if he had the talent.

“Yeah, good point.”

The small tourist shop sat half a block or so away, a little dingy wooden thing designed to mesh with its surroundings and convince overeager tourists to overspend their hard earned money at it. “Fossils And More” was spelled out on a plain wooden sign above the solid blue door, each letter seemingly stolen from another, better-looking, sign.

The small store had a few clothing racks in back, a few clear wooden cases sitting directly in front of the register holding a clearly bored school-age teenager on summer break. Wally wondered if the cashier had to do this to save money for his journey, and took time to look down at his bank account.

He looked back up at the fossils sitting beneath neat glass paneling, and sighed. “I could afford it, but I don’t want to spend her money on that…” Wally sighed, and looking up to see Burris do the same at a shirt price tag. A tan thing with “dirt” patterns all over it, and a cloth band holding an assortment of multi colored gems and rocks from the upper left shoulder down towards the waist.

Burris slumped his shoulders as Wally walked to his side.

“Find anything?” Burris asked, feeling the cozy soft fabric of the sleeve between his fingers.

“A few things, but out of my price range.”

“Yeah,” Burris muttered, hands in his pockets and feet moving to the door. “Same.”

A dry dusty wind smacked Burris in the face, the boy nearly shuffling his feet on the dusty path out of the shop. The winds subsided, and the quiet alerted Burris to the fact he was alone. He heard footsteps and turned to the source of them.

Wally, grinning widely and holding the tan shirt, gems and all.

“Wally!?” Burris damn near leaped backward a full foot. “That was crazy expensive, how-“

Wally put the shirt in Burris’ open hands. “Miss Juniper gave me the money.”

Burris blinked, raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head. Gears in his brain churned towards one explanation. “Huh. Well.” His smile became genuine, flashed brilliantly towards Wally. “Thanks.”

-

The waterfall crashed gently down into the river below, reflecting the early afternoon sun in the mist. 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Wally said, eyes wide and mouth agape, the rumbling of the waterfall underscoring his words.

“Yeah, it’s great…” Burrs trailed off, his eyes going to the cliffside, jagged rocks protruding out from the face. His eyes went towards the top of the waterfall, trees with warped and twisted branches and trunks seen even from this distance. Burris grinned at Wally. “You wanna see if we can climb it?”

“W-we?” Wally asked, watching Burris set his pack down. He nervously eyed Burris feel out the first set of rocks. “Um…” Burris grunted and pulled up onto the first ledge, just big enough for him to sit down crossed legged on.

Burris noted the tentativeness. “Something wrong?”

“I… don’t think I should,” Wally said. His eyes trailed to the ground. 

Burris frowned. “How come?”

“I don’t think I could even get to where you are.” Wally shook his head. “I’d rather we do something we can both do, you know?”

Burris nodded a bit, then smiled. “Yeah, you’re right.” He pushed off and landed on the dry dry grass, wincing a bit. “… ground’s a little harder here than back home.”

“Did you climb in Littleroot?” Wally asked.

“Yeah!” Burris’ gaze brightened, hands in his pockets. “Mom would force us out of the house so we wouldn’t just watch TV all day when we didn’t have school.” He rolled his shoulders a bit. “I wasn’t too excited by this at first, but then Sienna and I discovered we could just climb trees.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“It was!” Burris laughed. “There was that one time we discovered we could climb on the roof of the house.”

“That sounds-“

“Dangerous, yeah. Hence the one time.” Burris sighed happily. “Dad built a small balcony on the roof we could reach through my bedroom window though. Sometimes I’d just…” He placed his hands behind his head. “Lay there and see the stars, you know? It was quiet and nice. Sometimes I’d even fall asleep out there.”

The sound of freedom in Burris’ voice couldn’t help but make Wally slightly jealous, the outdoors and nature shunted out of Wally’s life by hospitals, medication, home… home life.

“It sounds lovely,” Wally said, hands clasped by his waist. 

“Yeah, it is.” An idea formed in Burris’ head for, potentially, later. _Potentially_ , he emphasized to the non-existent person listening to his thoughts. Silence set in, and both boys found themselves captured by the beauty of the valley sprawled out before them. The entire thing dipped after the bridge, a winding dirt path leading into the bowl of the valley, choked out by wild grass and trees. Meteor Falls glimmered in the distance, nearly pure white stone standing out against the green grasses and harsh red sands.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Wally said, voice threatening to be swept away by a harsh breeze. “It’d take 5, 6 hours for us to even reach Meteor Falls and…” He pointed with an outstretched palm. “There it is.”

The sun dipped further in the sky as their footsteps went down the winding road, the dust and wind for company. Signs of wildlife stirred from the tall grass below, Sevipers slithering through the grass, Lombres and Lotads wet from their excursions to the river above, Swablu hanging in tree with Altaria casting a wary eye at the serpents down below.

Ginnis and Madison appeared in a flash by their trainer’s sides. It took only a second for Ginnis to glare at Burris, the Kirlia sticking firmly to Wally’s side.

Burris sighed. Even when Burris tried to peer around Wally’s shoulders to get a better view of Ginnis, the Kirlia would hardly acknowledge him and simply step out of sight.

“Sorry about that, he’s-“ Wally twiddled his thumbs, eyes elsewhere. “A little upset, still.”

Burris shook his head. “You don’t need to apologize for-“ Burris felt Madison rush past him, blocking Wally’s path, tail swishing and tongue stuck out of her mouth an angle. 

“Oh!” Wally jumped back at the feeling of Madison’s paws on his shoulders. The Mightyena’s snout stuck out just an inch or so over Wally’s head.

“Madison…” Burris started to chastise, interrupted by Wally smiling and rubbing the top of her nose.

“She’s okay, Burris,” Wally said, moving his hand to the soft fur underneath. “Aren’t you?” 

Madison barked. Burris grinned and rubbed the back of his head. Ginnis peered towards the shaking grass nearby. A hiss preceded a Seviper, venom dripping from its fangs and body almost twice as long as Madison’s, launching itself from the grass into the air just feet away from Burris. 

And it stopped there. Wally blinked at the sight of the serpent locked in a sort of stasis, blood red eyes blinking and staring down at Ginnis’ glowing blue eyes, right hand outstretched towards it. Burris’ heart skipped a beat.

“Holy- Madison, Bite!” The Mightyena growled, hair on end as she circled around the two trainers for a clearer angle before pushing herself up onto her hind legs.

Her jaw clamped down on a thin part of tail, a foot or so away from the blade-like end of the Seviper. Ginnis’ blue eyes dimmed, the Seviper shrieked, and muscles tensed and fangs bared, Madison put her entire body into one mighty toss.

With a starling crack of wood, the poor snake found its head embedded in a tree. A group of baby Swablu looked on from above with worry, a momma Altaria shrieking and beating her wings at the poor thing.

“Well, we can’t leave it there,” Burris said.

“Mmmmm, yeah,” Wally said. The Seviper tried to yank itself out once, twice, three times. “If it’s stuck there it’d attract more Sevipers probably.”

Burris grabbed a blue capsule, a pair of red streaks on the top half of it and shrugged.

“Yeah, fair enough.” At some point Burris wondered if Birch was going to think this was some game of catch that had been slowly escalating. Ginnis peeked out from Wally’s left leg at Burris. “And uh, thanks for the save.”

Ginnis nodded quickly before hiding himself the best he could once more.

-

Hours passed, and the sun had turned into a large red ruby gem just hanging over the nearby river. Ginnis had slowly moved out from his shelter, occasionally goaded by an overeager Madison, but nevertheless it was a start. Burris felt his legs ache and burn, the grass and hills replaced by rocks and mountains. The mountain path snaked back and forth, campsites hanging out on various spots off the beaten path. Supposedly some trainers had a knack for finding secret spots in mountain walls and trees to make home for the night, but that just seemed far fetched.

Wally stopped and hummed in front of a sign, small plastic-covered pieces of papers labelling the majority of the sites as occupied. “It looks like the first site is still open.” 

Burris took a few steps towards the first bend in the path, and clicked his tongue. “Depends on your definition.”

Wally blinked. A large boulder sat in the middle of the campsite, leaving hardly any room for campers. Madison trotted and Ginnis pranced up to their sides.

“Oh. And too big for Ginnis to lift.” Wally drummed his fingers on a Great Ball hanging on his belt. “Does Jonesy know any of the screen moves? Reflect, Light Screen?”  
“I.” Burris crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “I mean, yes but do I want to know why?” 

“Well…” A flash of light illuminated the site, a small Gible standing in its wake. “Garrison here can probably blow up the rock.”

Madison walked up to the baby landshark, sniffing it with some measure of apprehension. Garrison stared up, body tilted and eyes blinking. 

“I guess it beats camping with Sevipers.” Jonesy appeared in a burst of light, gentle winds playing with his ribbons. 

“And it’ll be good practice for Garrison too.” The Gible waggled his arms and legs around, pinned by Madison’s front legs. Garrison snapped at Madison’s legs, his neck just a bit too fat to get at anything. “Is she-?”

“Madison? She’s harmless, her and Jonesy play rough all the time.” Jonesy chirped and nodded. Burris clapped his hands. “Madison, here girl! Garrison can’t help us like that!”

Madison shot her head up, tongue sticking out of her panting mouth. She trotted over, sitting in front of Burris and wagging her tail. 

“Ginnis, screens please!”

Burris ran his hand through Madison’s soft fluffy black fur. “Jonesy, do the same!”

A shimmering barrier of light blues and pinks formed like a dome around trainers and pokemon. Garrison stared back at Wally, tail bobbing up and down and making small excited noises.

“… do you always need screens to train him?” Burris asked, pointing at Garrison.

“He, um.” Wally pushed his fingers together. “He doesn’t quite understand his own power.”

“And he’s a. Yanno. Gible. Evolves into Garchomp.” Burris looked up from Madison’s belly rubs, some small part of him wondering if the _other_ campers might need protection too.

“Yes, but.” Wally sighed and shut his eyes. “It’s not going to get any better without practice. Garrison!”

The Gible froze.

“See that boulder?” Wally pointed.

Garrison nodded.

“Now, if you’re _very careful_ with this Dragon Rage.” Wally rummaged in his gray knapsack, revealing a cooked “Magikarp” treat made of fake meat.

Garrison drooled.

“You’ll get this. Understood?”

Garrison’s head bobbed up and down to the point Burris wondered if the Gible could propel himself to space. The Gible waddled around, staring down the boulder like it was his mortal enemy.

“Now, Dragon Rage! Half power!”

Burris had to cover his ears at the sheer sound of the cacophony of explosions, the force from the Dragon Rage’s blast disintegrating the boulder, temporarily lighting up the entire mountainside and presumably waking up or startling every living thing from here to Petalburg.

“Was… was that _half power_?” Small pebbles pelted the barriers, Jonesy and Madison exchanging mildly concerned looks.

Wally held his hands behind his back and rolled his right ankle in the dirt.

“Yes.”

Burris threw his arms up. “And to think I thought I knew better than to ask questions I didn’t want answers for.”

Soon enough, fire crackled in an in-ground fire pit, a brilliant sunset receding into the horizon, just barely stopping the proverbial sea of stars from choking out the sky entirely. Sparks from the flames lazily floated into the air, and Jorge dozed on a nearby log. Garrison’s jaws snapped at Jonesy’s ankles, the Sylveon’s ribbons pinning the Gible to the ground.

Madison’s eyes followed the flickers of flame disappear into the sky, Ginnis resting his head on her fur and occasionally snuffing out a cinder with his mind.

“Okay, do you have your rain tarp set up?”

Burris and Wally stood next to an unfinished red tent, generously described as having room for two. Burris’ blue tent sat not far away. 

“Why? Rain’s rare out here,” Wally said. He shrugged. “I don’t see the reason for it.”

Burris unfolded a green tarp and gave an end to Wally to stretch out. “Because there’s still scattered showers, especially this close to the mountains.”

“Oh right,” Wally said. He blushed a bit as he tied down the last end to a metal pole, buried in the stone so that campers could tie their tents down to something. “I guess I spaced on that.”

“I mean, it’s no big deal.” Burris stood up and looked to the stars above, the sunset dipping further and further beneath the horizon. “It’s easy to forget, especially with this sort of night sky.”

Wally let out a happy sigh, then a gasp as he caught sight of a tiny comet zipping through for the briefest of moments. “A comet!” 

Burris smiled at the sheer amount of joy in Wally’s eyes.

“I… for the longest time I never thought I’d see anything like this, you know,” Wally said, quietly. 

“Well.” Burris adjusted the neckline of his tan shirt, gems shaking ever so slightly on their strings. The faint crackling of fire and soft gusts of winds filled the silence for a few moments, as well as the struggling snarls of Garrison. “I’m glad I got to enjoy this with you, then.”

Wally nodded. “Me too.” He tilted his head back towards the fire. “I’d hate for Jorge’s work to go to waste…”

“And there’s really nothing better than a campfire under the stars, either.”


	30. Meteor Falls

A song of Swablus chirping and Altarias humming greeted Burris alongside the morning sun. He mumbled and sat upright, rubbing his eyes with his hands. He yawned and scratched his upper back, carefully navigating around the age old scar like it was second nature.

He rolled his neck and pondered. They couldn’t be that far from Meteor Falls now; maybe an hours walk, if they took their time? He had heard so many stories about the pure beauty in the falls, the sparkling stones, the roaring waterfalls… Rumor had it you could find valuable, legendary, stones buried in the furthest recesses of the falls, hidden alongside the only nests of Bagon in the Hoenn region.

Burris remembered how Mom found hers and wondered how deep her and Dad explored into that forest to find something that powerful. Even if Slade was a glorified puppy.

He grabbed for a shirt, a deeper shade of purple with tight fitting fabric designed to dry faster, and tossed it on.

Burris inhaled the cool dry air of the mountains, and grunted as he stretched his right arm above his head. He looked to the other tent, showing only the briefest shakes of life, before turning to the firepit, dead ashes and blocks of charred wood filling it.

He sighed and smiled. The only complaint about last night was that his shirt smelled like campfire, but what other concrete evidence was there of a fun campfire?

A sound of a zipper interrupted his daydreams. “Good morning Burris!” Wally wore his prim and proper gray outfit, dress pants and all and nearly wrinkle free.

“Dressing up for Meteor Falls?” Burris chuckled, hands clasped behind his head.

“I felt like it,” Wally said. He grinned widely, hands behind his back. “That’s all.”

Burris felt his smile grow, like an infection had passed from Wally’s smile to his own.

“Fair enough.”

It took no time for the tents to come down and the bags to be packed. Burris clicked the last strap holding his tent to his hiking bag only seconds before Wally.

Just enough time to toss Robby out in front of him. The Dewott yawned loudly, almost forcing Wally to let out a short cute chuckle.

“Morning, Robby!” The Dewott wiggled at the feeling of Wally rubbing the top of his slick light blue fur. “How’s the little cutie doing today?”

Robby jumped back, eyes narrowed in an instant and arms crossed.

Burris laughed.

“Are you _seriously_ going through _this_ phase?” Burris said. Robby huffed and looked away. “Oh my god, you little shit.”

Wally held a finger up. “Don’t you mean; _cute_ little shit?”

Robby flinched and faced his back to Wally in one fluid motion. He chirped at the feeling of Burris’ hand running through the top of his fur, his little hands hitting Burris’ own.

“I suppose Mom was right,” Burris checked out the small scratch marks on his hand. “Dewott is basically the rebellious teenager phase.”

Robby spat his tongue at Burris, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“I guess Ginnis has had a bit more attitude since becoming a Kirlia too.” Wally hummed and tapped his chin, walking alongside Burris. He played with Garrison’s Ultra Ball between his hands. “It makes me slightly worried about Garrison evolving sometimes…”

“Eh, it’s not that extreme for all ‘mons,” Burris said, sidestepping an errant boulder. Meteor Falls’ white stone walls grew bigger and bigger as they closed in. “Mom has a Salamence and he’s honestly a big puppy.”

“Did she have him as a Bagon?”

Burris nodded. “Yeah. He came into her life a year or two before my sister and I did.” He stuck his hands in his pocket, the image of the exploding rock from last night popping back into his mind’s eyes. “I mean, Robby’s still pretty much Robby anyway.” Burris peered down at Robby. “He just won’t admit he’s still a cutie.”

Robby huffed.

“Just uh. Teach Garrison how to control his power.”

Wally chuckled sheepishly. The Gible appeared in a flash, Garrison blinking once or twice before happily waddling by his trainer’s side.

“Believe me, I know…” Wally held his hands behind his back and hummed. “It’s just all part of the process when you catch a pseudo legendary like Gible.”

“Isn’t there some law saying you can’t catch fully evolved pseudo legendaries?” Burris asked.

“Between some of them being endangered species and being able to only be commanded by the best of the best trainers?” Wally nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard. I know Unova’s a bit more lax on those sorts of laws, but they also have a fairly sizable clan of dragon tamers and such there.”

“Oh, yeah. Mom talks to the head of that clan semi-frequently.” He frowned. “I swear I remember her name, it’s at the tip of my-“

“Iris?”

Burris snapped his fingers. “Iris. Thank you.”

The gaping maw of Meteor Fall’s entrance loomed before them, the faint sound of a waterfall whispering out of the cave.

“She’d probably like this place,” Wally said. “A lot of dragon trainers in our own region and across the world spend time in the deepest reaches of the caves.”

Garrison waddled in front of Wally and snorted, little feet stomping up and down.

“Maybe you’ll be one of those someday,” Burris said. 

Wally blushed and pushed his fingers together. “I-I mean, it’d be _nice_.”

-

Burris had heard the stories about how and why Meteor Falls was created, ranging from Rayquaza and Deoxys doing battle in space and crashing a meteor there, to Groudon and Kyogre duking it out in this area eons ago. 

He wasn’t sure about those stories, but he sure understood how _legendary_ Meteor Falls’ sparkling caverns were. Even the Zubats and Golbats lurking in the shadows of the stalactites clinging to the ceiling couldn’t distract him from the almost pearl-white walls, the dull roar of the waterfall practically massaging his ear drums.

Even Robby and Garrison slowed their pace, Robby’s whiskers twitching as he searched for the source of the water, Garrison starry-eyed at the sights and sounds.

“You think he knows the significance of this place?” Burris asked.

“It could be some sort of primal instinct,” Wally answered, holding his chin in a fist. “There are those legends and everything.”

“I mean, if you believe that Rayquaza helped make this place,” Burris finished, hands in his pockets.

“Do you believe?” Wally tilted his head. “A-about the gods and legends, I mean.”

Burris shrugged. “Dunno. My family was never very religious. Mom talks about Meloetta a bit and Grandma murdered Yveltal, but-“

Wally quirked an eyebrow. “She _what_?”

Burris held his hands up. “Look, I get it about as much as you do,” Burris said. He took a few steps forward, stopping just by Robby and Garrison as they stared at the glistening lake, a roaring waterfall dumping water into it and kicking up mist into the air. “I just sort of. Live with it.”

Wally tilted his head. “I-I mean, I suppose...” His words fell silent, emerald eyes joining the other staring out over the crystal clear water. “Miss Juniper doesn’t really mention those things to me, though.”

“She… doesn’t talk about her journeys that much.” Burris rolled his heal in the dirt. “None of my relatives do, really. I haven’t really asked why; I don’t know if I’d want to know.”

Wally shifted back and forth, not sure if he wanted an answer to the next question, mind traveling back to an old conversation on Briney’s boat, a bitter reminder of how easily Wally had missed Burris’ entire… _thing_. “How come?”

Burris looked to Wally, then to their reflections in the water below, shifting and rippling with Barboach swimming beneath the surface.

“You remember why I told you this was the reason I didn’t want to go on a journey of my own?” 

Wally hesitated. “Yes.”

“Half lie.”

Wally blinked. “Half?”

“Half I didn’t want to go because I feared I’d get dragged into whatever my family did, half…” Burris exhaled through his nose and slowly moved to a sitting position, words rumbling inside his head as he tried to jigsaw some sort of response that would make sense. He tilted his head back and forth, seeing Wally sit cross legged out of the corner of his eye, his emerald eyes worried and shining and-

“Half because I.” He stopped and shook his head, jumping ever so slightly at the feeling of Wally placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Wally retracted his hand quickly and looked away. “S-sorry, it’s. Fine.”

Wally looked back, hands firmly clasped in his lap. “I- are you certain?”

Burris hemmed and hawed for a brief moment. “Yeah. I just.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry. I get a bit jumpy if I’m not prepared.”

Wally felt a vague pit in his stomach, nagging at him and whispering to him about the implications and how this wasn’t just coincidence and reminding him about how far above his pay grade this truly was and- and slowly, but surely, his hand slid onto Burris’ shoulder, rising up and down slowly with Burris’ steady calming breaths.

Burris nodded and gave a small, genuine grin. 

“Thanks.” Silence set in, Burris’ mind wandering back to the initial point of conversations before things spiraled. He sighed, inhaling deeply and exhaling out, hoping that it’d take some part of his nerves with him. “The other half is I… sorta feared that that something as bad as that night could happen again.”

“That night?” Wally asked. Burris could feel the trepidation radiating off him, and that was a mood he could sympathize with.

Burris snorted through his nose. If he could tell Elesa, he could tell Wally. He buried his chin deeper between his knees and hands, his reflection in the water showing nothing more than his eyes and hair on his head. He glanced at Wally, who fidgeted with a bang of hair, before his gaze rested on the water.

“My ex sent me to the hospital.”

Wally froze, shoulders stiff, pointer finger stopped cold with a few green hairs wrapped around it, seconds passing before he realized he had been staring for uncomfortably long. He spun around quickly, emerald eyes focused on the water, mind racing to process while also helpfully reminding him just how much he had somehow managed to miss.

The soft roar of the waterfall and ripples of water drowned out the conversation for a few moments, Wally grappling with the fact he wished someone trained him for this and knew that no one really _could_.

The awkward silence bordered on deafening, and Wally looked around for two pokemon who were no longer here.

His heart sunk. “Oh nooooooo.” He buried his face in his hands.

“What’s wrong?” Burris asked, lifting his head up only slightly.

“Robby and Garrison wandered off.”

“The Gible.” Burris momentarily shoved the worst day of his life back into the recesses of his mind at the mental image of Garrison blowing half of Meteor Falls to hell. He sighed. “Well, I’d like to think Robby could keep him in line.”

The raucous echo of an explosion mere seconds after those words dashed Burris’ hopes.

-

Burris almost immediately noted the burn marks on the pearl-white stone floor as they rounded the corner to the source of the explosion. Lunatones littered the floor, eyes shut and with similar burn marks on their crescent-moon like bodies. 

Robby sat behind a pile of burnt boulders, arms crossed and frowning as Burris scooped the Dewott into his arms.

“Yeah, I’d be mad too,” Burris said, practically cradling the stewing Robby in his arms as he carefully stepped over unconscious crescent moons with the occasional tiny Zubat mixed in, enough to make Burris look up warily at the ceiling. Robby huffed and fussed, kicking his legs and crossing his arms before begrudgingly accepting his trainer’s embrace for the time being.

His fears were somewhat assuaged by the empty, slightly burnt, stalagmites hanging down from the ceiling, though only a few seconds passed before it occurred to him that Garrison’s Dragon Rage could’ve shaken some of them loose.

“Oh,” Wally said, dragging Burris back into the actual situation at hand. Wally stood over a slender blue and red dragon, staring up from Wally’s chest level expectantly with now yellow and black eyes, and looking approximately as half as dangerous as the mighty Garchomp.

“He evolved.” Robby immediately scrambled out of Burris’ arms and Burris felt the otter’s hands hanging off of his left shoulder, presumably glaring at Garrison.

“Yes.” Wally turned away, forcing himself to not frown and sighing. “Yes, he did.”

Garrison barked and wagged his tail.

“Well, good news; he’s still basically a puppy,” Burris said. A glint of green caught his attention from Garrison’s lap, and bending in closer he saw what appeared to be an emerald-green orb, still partially covered by a hard, almost meteor-like, outer layer. “And he found…” Burris’ hands felt the roughness of the craggy outer shell, the almost unnatural smoothness of the shimmering green. 

He held it out to Wally. “This.”

Wally blinked at his reflection. “Huh.”

A sheepish smile crossed Burris’ face. “It… matches your eyes?” A beat. “And hair.”

Wally felt a breath catch in his throat, focusing intently on his reflection in the green orb.

“I.” Wally turned away and coughed, his pale cheeks letting through a light red. “Thanks.”

Burris ran his hand through the back of his hair, awkward silence threatening to take over before he felt Robby fidgeting on his shoulder.

“What?” Burris asked, seeing Robby pointing at a Solrock peering around a corner. Burris jumped and froze at the slanted red eyes, his mind going back to the stories about Solrocks and Lunatones fighting bitterly against one another for subsistence and territory. “Oh god, did we get involved in a turf war?”

“Quartz.” An unfamiliar female voice, almost perfect neutral, said. The Solrock grumbled and rolled its eyes.

“While that sounds like the plot of one of your cartoons…” Wally said, chuckling at Burris’ fear. “Excuse me, miss?”

No response. Garrison looked back and forth between the two boys, Burris’ hands in his pockets and Wally’s arms crossed. Red gloves came and snatched the Solrock out of view, the lack of footsteps following conspicuous.

“Uh, we know you’re there?” Burris asked. A sigh followed, and a woman with short curly violet hair stepped out, wearing a generic black hooded sweatshirt that clashed with her red skirt and boots. Quartz hovered nearby, observing the unconscious Lunatone with as much wary as its face could show.

“Sigh, yes, hello,” the woman said, purple eyes fixated on Burris, bouncing between his sapphire blue eyes and emerald green orb. She stared for a few moments, the momentarily averted awkward silence from before returning with vengeance. Robby’s eyes moved warily from Solrock to stranger, and Burris could feel the Dewott tense up.

Burris felt a vaguely unsettled feeling in his gut, a slight chill down his spine. Was she interested in the orb? _Him_? He had enough awkward “no I’m actually gay, I’m sorry” experiences for one lifetime. Of course, given his last name and how fate loved to conspire with his family, maybe she thought he-

“Is something wrong?” Wally finally asked, breaking the stare down.

She took a couple of steps back, spared another thoughtful glance at Burris.

“No. Have a good day.”

And then she turned around on one foot and left like nothing had happened.

The boys stood in silence for a few moments.

“Was that another Roxanne moment?” Wally finally said, causing Burris to throw his hands up and nearly dropping the orb in the process. Robby huffed and dropped to the ground with a gentle plop.

“Look.” Burris stuffed the orb into a side pocket of his bag, not particularly caring that the zipper wouldn’t shut on the now bloated side pocket because he really needed to gesture with his hands right now. He held up two fingers to Wally. “There’s two things that could’ve been.”

“And?” A small smile cracked Wally’s seemingly innocent façade.

“Either I have a really creepy stalker.” Burris placed a finger gun to the side of his head and pulled the imaginary trigger. “Or someone just somehow figured out I have super powers or some absolute crap like that.”

“I mean, superpowers sounds…” Wally shrugged. “Kind of neat? Miss Juniper creates metal and tech from her mind.”

“I can barely figure out my own shit right now!” Burris protested, palms outstretched and an exasperated look dominating his face. He sighed and dragged a palm down from his forehead to his chin. “The _last_ thing I need is to suddenly juggle super power responsibilities with all of.”

He blinked at Wally and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“Well, everything else.”

Wally smiled, and extended a hand slowly towards Burris’ shoulder, Burris’ blue eyes tracing Wally’s movement.

He felt Wally’s hand pat him on the shoulder, and felt a slight bit of warmth.

“We can figure out the whole superpowers thing later, then,” Wally said.

“Yeah.” Burris nodded gently, mouth half open to add on before he caught the sight of a Lunatone stirring. “And after we, uh, leave before all of these Lunatones wake up.”

Wally’s eyes widened and so did Garrison’s.

“Right. That would be. Wise.”


	31. Sparkplug

The sun hung at its peak in the noontime Lavaridge sky, highlighting the humble town barely a fourth of the size of Mauville half a day’s walk to the south. A couple of older ladies relaxed in the hot springs, while a man laid buried in the sand just to the north of the local gym. A few ladies drinking tea outside of the PokeCenter peeked up at the sight of a Skarmory descending to the ground, pair of boys clinging to its back.

Dusted floated into the air as Chromia gently dropped to the ground, blade-like wings tucked to the sides and claws firmly gripping the dry dirt to allow Burris and Wally to easily hop off.

“Who knew Birch had a way with birds?” Burris said after dropping off, patting Chromia on the back. “Thanks for the lift.”

Chromia cawed before stretching her neck out with a grunt.

“Birch said she got along instantly with the starters,” Wally said, hands clasped at his waist..

“Yeah, I suppose,” Burris replied. Chromia’s yellow eyes darted back and forth, eyes narrowed at the nearby old ladies. “Really?” Burris said, hands in his pockets. “I get why you’re suspicious, but they’re not going to hurt anyone, let alone us.”

Chromia warily stared for a few moments before Burris procured her Great Ball, not unlike the Poke Ball but with red arches contrasting with the rest of the blue top half of the ball. 

“C’mon, lets get you back to Birch. I’d keep you around, but well…” Burris looked to the ground and shrugged. “Flannery’s a fire trainer and Madison knows Dig.”

Chromia nodded.

Wally mumbled and rubbed his forehead. “Do you mind if we relax and eat first?” 

“Oh, right.” They had been flying a couple of hours from Meteor Falls from here, after all, and they had more than enough time in the day to squeeze in both gym battles regardless. Burris then immediately felt a light grumble in his stomach, and chuckled. “Yeah, that works.”

-

Lunch came and lunch went, with both boys enjoying some of the local food the PokeCenter served; a salad with local roots mixed in with Verdenturf’s greens, and fake Torchic strips mixed in. A far cry from the more processed food a lot of major PokeCenters served. Wally pointed out that Lavaridge simply served less people than most major Centers; more active than Fallarbor, but unless you were visiting Mt. Chimney or taking the League Challenge there wasn’t much for you here.

After an hour of harmless small talk about the town and the gym plans, Burris swapped Chromia back in for Madison, and the two took off for the Gym. Many trainers considered the former gym leader there to be one of the most intimidating challenges in all of Hoenn, to the point they often went all the way to Meteor Falls simply to prepare themselves better for him.

His daughter, Flannery, was not that. Legally, she wasn’t even supposed to be a gym leader; due to the lack of other options in region and how unlikely Wallace was to get yet another foreign gym leader to step in, the League decided Flannery would train on the job. She had spent plenty of time with her father and had a fiery determination to keep up his legacy; there were worse emergency options. Plus, Flannery had every intent and purpose to keep dear old dad’s sauna of a gym intact, sand, steam and all.

Not every replacement gym leader kept their gym the same, and that costed money. There were rumors that Elesa’s remodel of Wattson’s gym had costed a small fortune, though the family’s amassed fortune and Elesa’s insistence on paying for it made it a non-issue for the League as a whole.

While the steaming hot sauna tested trainer’s willpower, Wally seemed much more of an intimidating task for Flannery than the environment was for him. His eyes were narrowed, focused, he ignored the sweltering heat and sweat besides a few swipes of his brow.

Flannery, on the other hand, seemed to be either exasperated or on the verge of _tears_. While a Slugma had gotten the better of Ginnis with a surprising burning Smog, Wally muttered what Burris assumed was calling himself stupid, and threw out Matt, now an Azumarrill. The magma-like slug practically melted under the might of Matt, bouncing around like a dumb blue bunny with an egg-like body would be expected, if it weren’t for the fact he crushed every opponent in sight.

Including Flannery’s last pokemon, a Torkoal withdrawn into his shell as Matt hammered it. Water surrounded its tiny flailing arms, hiding its true power as the Torkoal seemingly could do little else but hide in its obsidian-like shell and occasionally spit out fire.

“Inferno, Curse again!” Flannery said, her raised voice clearly searching for a solution to this.

“Matt, bounce back and Belly Drum!”

There wasn’t one. Matt’s big black eyes narrowed as he pounded his gut, stamina and adrenaline pumping into his muscles to the point where Burris could almost see some of the pulsing through the fat.

“Liquidation!”

In an instance, the Torkoal cried out and flew across the room, a proverbial eruption of sand from the floor launching Inferno a few feet away from Flannery, seemingly trying her best to hold back her tears.

She sighed and walked up to Wally, black sandals that matched her black shirt dragging up sand as she went. 

“Here,” she pushed an orange CD-like TM labeled 50 into his hands and the badge. 

Wally blinked and looked up expectantly as Flannery walked away.

“Are you really expecting a gym leader speech from me of all people?” Flannery grumbled, looking back for a moment before continuing her strides towards the back. “It’s not like you need advice from me.”

Wally stammered a bit, hand outstretched and mouth open as Flannery slammed the door to her office shut. He sighed and smiled a little as Matt waddled up to him. He ran his hand through the top of his slick fur, and barely noticed Burris approaching from the wooden stands.

“I should’ve had you out there first,” he whispered. “Sorry.”

Matt tilted his head in confusion.

“Why so down?” Burris asked, announcing his presence to Wally. Both him and the Azumarril turned, the latter’s thick wet fur now littered with clumps of sand. Matt’s belly moved up and down.

“I let Ginnis get hurt for no reason?” Wally suddenly snapped, turning away and crossing his arms. Burris scratched behind his ear and bounced his head back and forth. The Smog _did_ hurt Ginnis a fair bit; Burris knew he would’ve acted similarly if Robby got hurt in such a fashion. “Matt should’ve just been out there in the first place, or even Garrison-“

“You don’t trust Garrison’s power quite yet,” Burris said. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Look, Matt probably could’ve tackled Flannery if you let him.”

The aquatic rabbit pumped a fist in the air.

“But on the same token… it’s a Slugma.” Burris shrugged and forced an awkward smile. “Like yeah, Ginnis took a stinging blow.”

“That’s one way to state the obvious.” Wally focused a lone emerald eye on Burris, arms tightening around his chest.

“Okay, look.” Burris shut his eyes and waved his hands. “I get that, I’d be in a bad mood if Robby got hit like that too.” Wally’s arms loosened ever so slightly, he turned towards Burris with his eyes dropped to the ground. “But what if Flannery had something designed so that Matt couldn’t handle it? She’s a gym leader, after all.”

“She uses the same three to four pokemon every match, and even if she _were_ a full gym leader…” Wally rolled up his shoulders. “Fifth badge fights don’t dive too much into those sorts of strategies quite yet.”

“I’ve seen my dad fight his fair share of those types of battles, that’s not always true,” Burris pointed out, mind briefly flashing back to the days where Kong would carry him on his right shoulder, Slaking and son watching together as Eli juggled gym fights and babysitting Burris for the day. “So… look.” Burris searched for words, focusing on a particularly deep-looking pit of sand on the edge of the arena.

“I’m sorry.” Wally’s murmur snapped Burris back to the boy, hands at his waist and thumbs twiddling. Matt tugged at his waist. “I shouldn’t have gotten angry like that, I…”

Burris shook his head and put both of his hands on Wally’s shoulders. Wally jumped and blushed, craning his neck back just a bit.

“Just get Ginnis to the PokeCenter, and I’ll meet you there after my fight’s done. Promise.”

-

Flannery did not reemerge from her office after Wally left, and it made Burris curious. Of course, he knew some of the struggles his dad went through as a young gym leader himself, and that was when Hoenn was less… desperate for them.

Robby sat on the sandy floor in front of the stands, futzing with his red patterned bandanna. There were no words on it; the color itself signified Robby’s responsibilities as a support pokemon. Burris smiled and grabbed onto the knot at the back, tugging at it for a few moments. He felt the slightly damp fabric between his fingers until it vanished into his green knapsack on his waist.

“I’d rather that not get burned off here,” Burris said. Robby chirped and agreed, and the gym floor turned back to silence. Burris could hear the faint air conditioner humming in Flannery’s office, as well as towards the entrance to the gym. He felt a bit of sweat on his brow, and began to twiddle his thumbs and look around at anything interesting.

His gaze soon turned to the time, showing that his match was now 10 minutes late. He glanced up at the wooden door to Flannery’s office, then at the empty stands around him. Even Roxanne had people in the stands, and Elesa would’ve too if she hadn’t purposely kept them out.

Thank fuck for that.

His internal monologue snapped at the sound of a door slamming open, only slightly muffled by the sands.

“Greetings, challenger!” Flannery bellowed, forced confidence oozing through her smile and eyes.

Robby waved, Burris cocked an eyebrow.

“Uh, hi.” He stood up, hands in his pockets. Robby followed as he trudged through the sands.

Flannery stopped in her own trainer box, a simple wooden thing not out of place in most saunas. “Welcome!” she shouted, this one echoing just slightly. “Puny challenger, I-“

Burris and Robby stopped at their trainer’s box, eyes narrowed and arms crossed in borderline unison.

“I, ahem.” Flannery coughed, her fake confidence fading with the tone of her voice. “I hope you can stand up to the heat of the skills my father passed down towards me!”

Awkward silence set in, Flannery’s hand holding one red and white capsule and practically frozen mid motion.

Burris stood like an unimpressed statue. “… Aren’t you going to tell me this is a 3 pokemon gym fight for my fourth badge?” he asked. He gestured towards the edges of the sandy field. “No leaving the outline of the field, no revives mid match?”

“I.” Flannery blinked, slowly bringing her arm down to her waist. “Yes,” she whispered, nearly choked out by the sands. “This will be.” She exhaled, sighed. “All of that.”

Burris rubbed the back of his head, Robby stepping towards the middle of the field. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned.

“Let’s just…” Flannery pinched the bridge of her nose, any sort of confidence long gone. She underhand tossed a ball only mere feet in front of her, revealing what appeared to be a small slug, made of lava but with no shell. “Clayface, you’re up.”

“Clay-” Burris held up a finger, preparing to object to the nickname, nearly pointing out it was far better suited for a Ditto, but saw the already half defeated look in Flannery’s eye. “… Nevermind. Robby! Water Pulse!”

Robby chittered, inhaled, shut his eyes, and exhaled a ring of water with surprising velocity.

“Clayface, try to-“ The ring slammed into the Slugma’s hide full force, tossing it to the ground. The sands hissed underneath his lava-like skin. “Clayface, get up and Sm-“

“Robby, Aqua Jet!”

In a flash, water kicked up underneath Robby’s feet and he took off like a bullet. Clayface barely had time to open his mouth before Flannery watched him slam into the office wall behind her, practically deforming into a puddle as he slid down. Flannery turned her back to Burris silently, a red stream of light retrieving the poorly named Slugma.

Robby walked back to his side of the field, a confused look on his face. Burris shrugged and grimaced; Robby snorted.

Too easy.

Flannery stood motionless for a few seconds, staring at the wall. Burris could practically hear the receptionist typing. He paused as a drop of sweat fell from his brow, and he couldn’t help but wonder how dangerous the sauna would be if Flannery were as talented as her dad was.

“Fine,” Flannery murmured after an eternity. Suddenly she spun around, forced confidence returning in force with _anger_ “ _Fine!_ ” She damn near dunked the next poke ball into the ground, revealing a massive hulking camel like creature, staring at a surprised Burris and Robby. “Hela!”

“Is that…” Burris trailed off, rubbing his chin. That wasn’t her ace, was it? He drifted back to the hundreds of gym battles he saw his dad fight over the years; he used a pair of Slakings in some fifth gym fights, certainly, but fourth? “Nevermind.”

“Earth Power!”

Hela snorted and slammed her hooves down, the sands erupting where Robby had just been moments before, dodging after a timely yell from Burris in a jet of water. Burris scowled at the sight of the now pit in the floor, sand flowing into it.

Still, a Camerupt was a Camerupt. Another command, and another pulse of water tracked towards Hela, picking up trace amounts of sand along the way. Hela howled, steam floating off of the now drenched spots of fur.

The Camerupt began to stomp her feet and snorted at Robby. 

“Earth Power, again!”

The sand shook and shifted for a brief moment, Robby doing a side-flip. He only realized his mistake a moment too late; the sand where he was destined to land erupted, tossing him with a surprise squeak a good few feet to the left, kicking up a proverbial cloud of sand in his wake.

Burris felt his heart drop.

“Robby!” he yelled a little louder than anticipated, heart pounding. It settled ever so slightly as Robby pushed up, chunks of sand clinging to his damp fur in sports. 

Burris let go of a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Good, Water Pulse!” He realistically couldn’t afford anyone switching in on a hit from the Camerupt at this point, and judging by that last attack from Robby…

The almost sonic ring of water echoed towards the Camerupt, Flannery grimacing as Hela roared, lifting herself on her back legs from the force of the blow. She swayed back and forth for just a second before crashing down to the ground with a resounding thud, throwing sand into her trainer’s unprepared face.

“Hela!” Flanery coughed and spat out a few stray grains of sand. “Damn it!”

Hela vanished into red light much like the Slugma before her, leaving Robby limping back to Burris. He looked up at his worried trainer with defiance for a few moments, before squeaking in sudden pain and grabbing his arm.

Burris immediately grabbed for his capsule. “No arguments. You’re done.” Robby sighed and let himself be retrieved. Burris shut his eyes and inhaled; he exhaled sharply out his nose and opened his eyes to see Flannery once more, a Torkoal now standing before her.

In one fluid motion, Terri appeared from nothingness on her end of the field, holding a clawed hand up to her mouth as she stared at the turtle.

And Burris stared at the positively fuming Flannery, hands in fists at her waist.

“Fine! You know what? FINE! I’ve been bullied and pushed around by every trainer that’s come in here so far!” she shouted. Burris and Terri blinked in unison; the Torkoal even seemed to be moderately concerned. “After how tough my dad was, all I get from people is that I’m not trained, I’m not _licensed_ , I’m just a bad trainer who got lucky and inherited my gym!”

 

“Look, it’s not _fair_ , I get being comp-“ Burris started, before Flannery continued to shout.

She pointed at Terri. “You know what! To hell with them and you! I’m done holding back just because! Inferno!” 

“Terri, be careful.” Burris said quietly. He tried to figure out what Flannery’s dad big thing was, what he used to do. Dad talked about it sometimes when Sienna badgered him for stories about the other gym leaders, that he-

“OVERHEAT!”

Inferno paused, inhaled, then exhaled with a roar only a tortoise could manage, fire and heat erupting seemingly everywhere and racing towards Terri like a wave, like-

“Terri, try-“ She didn’t know Protect, there was nowhere to _go_ , Burris reached down towards his belt and grabbed for a-

The fire exploded around Terri, and she didn’t make a sound. Burris felt a lump caught in his throat as the heat and fire faded, Terri motionless on the ground, Terri- Terri.

Flannery’s anger and rage faded away in an instance, the lone medic in the stands immediately sprinting towards Burris.

“Poke Ball, please.” She was dressed not unlike a PokeCenter nurse, a light pink outfit with a longer skirt, though overall designed to better handle being in places like sauna-like gyms. Burris found himself shaking a little placing Terri’s Premier Ball in her waiting hands.

“Oh my god,” Flannery whispered. Inferno held his head low. “I-“

Terri’s charred and motionless form vanished into the Premier Ball, the capsule making the same soft hum and red light on the button it always did when returning a Pokemon, a live one, but it didn’t remove the nauseating pit in Burris’ stomach.

“W-we don’t need to continue, I can just-“ Flannery stared at her outstretched hands, trembling. “Call it off, give you a badge…”

Burris gradually tuned out her voice, tuned out the sounds and everything around him, eyes shut. He felt the almost nauseating pit in his stomach. Madison and Jonesy couldn’t take a hit like that again, Jorge _could_ but there was the matter of what else that _thing_ could do, Robby… He violently shuddered. No no no no **NO**.

His hand and mind drifted towards the last Premier Ball on his belt, sorting through his rapidly dwindling good options down to just one.

Electro Ball.

Electro Ball worked off of speed.

He opened his eyes, noticed his grip shaking.

If Axel wanted.

He tossed it in front of him, the Plusle’s ears flopping around as he shook his head, nose twitching as it picked up on the thick scent of the sauna.

He looked up at Burris, trainer’s hands on his knees. Axel’s ears drooped a little at sight of him shaking.

“Look, Axel, you-“ Axel peaked around Burris, catching sight of the nurse rushing out the gym floor with Terri’s own white Premier Ball. The Plusle squeaked and snapped back to Burris, eyes shut and head dropped. “Don’t have to-“

Axel’s ears shot up, fur on end as he snapped around to face Inferno, the Torkoal taking a wary step back from the sharp gaze and sparking cheeks of the Plusle.

“Do… this,” Burris trailed off. He stood upright, he swallowed, he nodded.

Axel wanted to, and against the little voice in the back of his head reminding him what just happened, so would Burris.

“We’ll do this,” Burris said. He inhaled, then exhaled and looked down at Plusle, tense and on all fours and _determined_. 

“I.” Flannery blinked, still shaking just a bit. “Okay.”

“Get a running start, then Electro Ball!” Burris ordered. Axel shot off like a rocket, kicking up an impressive amount of sand behind him. Inferno warily watched as Axel zipped to the left moments before coming back around from the right again and again and Inferno spat embers that burned out harmlessly against the ground, Axel becoming more like a miniature bullet of electricity every second in his circle and then electricity _exploded_ against Inferno, the lights in the room flickering for a brief second before Inferno screamed as loud as the Torkoal seemingly could.

Axel stood yards in front of Inferno, Torkoal staggering backwards step by step, electricity sparking from the Plusle’s fur, yellow and covered in damp sand in part.

Burris let go of another breath he didn’t realize he was holding, heart pumping with adrenaline and awe at the sight.

“Body Slam, gentle!” Flannery said, halfway between gawking and guilt. Axel squeaked and took off to the left, a mound of sand piled up causing him to stagger for a precious few moments.

Axel screeched and Burris felt his heart stop as the weight of Inferno’s body came down on him, body nearly buried in the sand. Inferno remained unmoving on top of the Plusle.

Axel began to wiggle and attempt to pull out, squeaking as he struggled, still the little sparkplug even with the mass of a Torkoal squatted on top of him.

Burris blinked, relief giving way to the realization that Torkoal sat on what amounted to a live wire.

“Discharge!” Burris cupped his hands and yelled. Axel stopped moving for a moment, eyes shut and focused, his sand-covered body now beginning to spark with life and electricity.

“Inferno, off!” Flannery yelled. “Off-!”

Inferno howled, electricity washing over the turtle, yellow and much more static-like than the proverbial explosion of electricity Electro Ball was. Inferno staggered for a few moments, lifting the pressure off of Axel’s body. The Plusle shook his body, clumps of sand and remaining static electricity falling off of him.

Inferno fell with a muffled thud. The Torkoal’s legs twitched, Axel standing proudly for a few moments in front of Burris, the trainer with a beaming smile.

Axel slumped a bit and Burris’ smile faded as their adrenaline did. Terri had to be at the PokeCenter by now.

Flannery walked up, grabbed Burris left hand, and shoved the same CD-like TM and badge into Burris’ hand.

Burris noted she seemed to be on the verge of tears.

“Go. Please. Now,” she said, quiet voice trembling and shaking.


	32. The Life Of...

Ginnis kicked his legs back and forth in Wally’s lap, a clear plastic wrap holding a small mix of soothing balm and antidotes to his lower torso, still a pale purple from the Slugma’s Smog. The PokeCenter room lay quiet, Wally glancing at the blank TV sitting on the opposite wall from time to time. The walls were a clean white, the floors a smooth gray; a far cry from the Fallarbor’s center. Benefit to being about a half a day away from Mauville rather than two or three. 

Wally’s eyes went to the PokeNav on the bed stand, still silent. No word from Burris; he grabbed it and thumbed the screen until he hit his messages. Nothing new yet. He had to make sure, sometimes technology was fussy when it can to notifying one of things. 

“It’s taking him awfully long…” he murmured. He skimmed their message history, ensuring that Burris knew the room Wally was in, that they were going to meet up there after his gym fight and after Ginnis was back up to par and-

Ginnis hummed and stared up at Wally, twisting ever so slightly in his lap.

“It’s just weird,” Wally said. He didn’t know what to make of it otherwise; maybe he had just lost? Burris didn’t seem to be the sort of trainer to take a loss that badly, and besides he had Robby and Terri… He didn’t have a Gabite that could blow up half of Meteor Falls, though.

“Someday you’ll have your strength under control,” Wally whispered. He plopped his head down on his pillow, springs protesting against his weight. Ginnis gently pushed himself off, landing on the side of the bed with grace. 

Wally stared at the ceiling for what seemed like forever, trying and failing to count the various tiny holes in the tile. He then tried drifting into a nap, though his mind and body both protested. He really wasn’t tired, more anxious.

Ginnis spun to the side to allow Wally to sit fully upright as he reached for the remote on his night stand. If Burris didn’t text him in 5 minutes, Wally figured it couldn’t hurt to write another one.

“We return to local breaking news here in Lavaridge!” The new flashed immediately on the screen, a younger female reporter with navy blue hair and a journalist’s jacket standing in front of the Lavaridge Gym. A few other reporters milled about in the background. “While the gym’s secretary will not answer any more questions at this time, it appears that a pokemon was critically injured in Flannery’s latest gym fight!”

Wally sat up a little straighter, Ginnis fidgeting at his trainer’s tension.

“Flannery is currently unavailable for comment, while phone calls to Wallace have been unanswered so far. However, we managed to get a hand on the gym schedule for the day…” The reporter unfolded a piece of paper; the daily schedules were available for anyone to see, as the news stations demanded that they have access to the more interesting fights on the League circuit. 

“If the timing is correct, we believe the owner of the fallen is Burris Juniper.” Wally’s eyes widened. The reporter’s blue eyes showed the gears rolling in her head, of the story here. “Who I believe is the son of Petalburg’s gym leader Eli…”

Wally didn’t hear the reporter finish before sprinting out the room, Ginnis blinking into existence seconds before his door slammed shut.

-

Burris stared at the floor and kicked his feet. The adrenaline from the gym fight had quickly faded away, leaving nothing but the nauseous feeling in his stomach. Axel’s adrenaline had faded as well, ears drooped and so hunched over Burris was surprised the Plusle hadn’t fallen face first to the floor. Jonesy laid next to Axel, baby blue eyes looking over and a ribbon wrapped around him like a hug.

Robby sat on the floor, looking away from Burris, arms crossed. Madison whined and fidgeted in place, sitting upright and glancing back and forth. Jorge sat in a plastic chair next to Burris, occasionally nudging Burris with a claw.

Burris forced a smile and patted Jorge on the head, then looked up to see Terri’s empty bed. It hadn’t taken them long to determine that she wouldn’t make it, the sheer uncontrolled power from an untrained Torkoal’s Overheat too much to handle.

The doctor seemed surprised by this. Pokemon rarely died in fights like this one; even in the wild the vast majority of Pokemon were herbivores, with only a few rare ones wild and carnivorous.

Burris swallowed the lump in his throat. Flannery had no idea the power she had been playing with, and it had taken a lot of nerves to not walk out after the doctor had given him the diagnosis and slugged her right in her stupid face.

But Burris saw she was terrified too. Trembling, a little pale. If anything, she took this worse than he did. He patted Jorge on the head as the Combusken chirped, and he replied with a sigh. “I don’t know Jorge, I’m just…” He smushed a cheek against his right hand. “I just need a little time, I guess.”

A few knocks surprised Burris at the door, given that the doctor had said there were no visitors right now. Besides family. Another few knocks.

“Burris!” A gruff, older nurse called out; he recognized the voice from the one that took Terri away after… “You have a brother here from Mauville.”

Burris sat upright, blinking, confusion momentarily disrupting the vague sense of guilt. Brother? Mauville?

He opened the door, revealing the older nurse, buff arms crossed and staring down at Burris with stern blue eyes. Burris glanced to her side, and saw Wally pushing his fingers together.

Ginnis, the little shit, sat on his shoulder and seemed to be on the edge of giggling at any moment.

“Well?” The nurse said, clearly unconvinced. Wally peaked up; Burris felt a smile creep onto his face.

“Close enough.”

Wally stepped through, and in an instant Madison moved from fidgeting to sprinting to Wally’s feet, sitting still and panting. He smiled and ran his hand through her velvet fur. Ginnis fussed and leaped off of his trainer’s shoulder… and seconds after the pats stopped, Madison lunged playfully for the Kirlia.

Ginnis squeaked, popping out of existence and onto Burris head, the surprise weight causing Burris to bend at his knees. Burris stared up at vaguely annoyed red eyes staring down, seconds before Ginnis blinked into view on Wally’s shoulder once more.

Madison barked in a way that could be mistaken from a chuckle.

“Good girl,” Burris said, ruffling the top of the Mightyena’s fur. He saw Wally make his way to the plastic chairs, Jorge instinctively hopped off and looked to Burris, then the other empty chair… then the bed.

Burris narrowed his eyes at Jorge, and the Combusken shrugged. Little shit. Still, the chuckles and humor faded into the ether as Burris sat down next to Wally, a concerned look on his face.

“I saw the news,” he said. 

Burris winced. Dammit, he knew he forgot something. Of course, gym leader’s kid. Death in a gym. How could it not make news?

“Sorry,” Burris whispered. “I was…” He trailed off, looked at the bed. He sighed and dropped his head, nodding in acceptance. Biting his tongue, he twiddled his thumbs, then gestured to the bed.

“Terri’s gone.”

“Oh.” Wally glanced around; Madison trotted up to Jonesy and Axel, nudging both of them but Axel remained pouting and Jonesy chirped back, refusing to move. Robby leaned on Jorge tentatively, whiskers twitching. It didn’t take much for Wally to piece together what probably happened from Robby’s dirty fur and bandages. “I’m... sorry about that.”

He remembered Aile told him to never ask if someone was okay when they obviously weren’t.

“I guess I just. Don’t know how I’d do it differently,” Burris muttered. He scratched the back of his head. “Could just. Not do the gym challenge, but…”

“… there was no reason to expect that,” Wally finished. Burris nodded.

“Yeah.” Didn’t change what happened. He clicked his tongue. “Yeah.” 

Burris gave Wally a quick sideways glance moments before his hand rested on Burris shoulder. Burris could feel it inch tentatively closer, and soon Wally’s entire arm sat comfortably.

It felt nice.

The two sat like that for some time, the relative silence of the room and the comfort small relief for Burris.

A few more knocks at the door interrupted the peace, and Wally quirked an eyebrow at it. Ginnis pouted and crossed his arms, small nose twitching. 

Burris sighed and shook his head, mouthing curse words.

“I’ll get it.” Wally flashed a smile at Burris and went to the door. Reporters, probably. They still had a job to do, and so did Wally.

He took a steadying breath. Potentially being on the news, there was nothing that could go wrong with this. He cracked the door open to see a taller tan woman, fiery red hair wrapped underneath a light blue bandanna, eyes disguised by sunglasses.

“Is Burris here?” she whispered, adjusting her loose red hooded sweatshirt. “I’d… like to apologize.”

“Oh.” Flannery. Wally glanced at Burris and then hummed internally. He didn’t seem all that enraged by Flannery right now… “I think he’d be fine with that.”

Burris looked up at the sound of footsteps, and blinked at Flannery grabbing the chair on the other side of him. Robby looked up for just a second, narrowed his eyes, and turned away. The silence seemed to drown out the rest of the room, even as Wally took back his original spot.

Finally, Flannery spoke. “I’m sorry. For Terri.”

Burris looked at the ground, nodding. “Yeah.” He paused. “You know, I kind of wanted to punch you for this.”

“I can think of a million things I probably deserve from you right about now,” Flannery said. She drummed her fingers on her thigh. 

“Fair enough.” He sat upright, running his hand through his hair before resting his chin on it. “You kinda just got thrust into all of this madness recently, right?”

“Yeah…” Flannery swallowed and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. “And now I have no family and I’m a murderer.” Shakily exhaling, she shook her head. Burris tried to recall what little he could of her family; Dad had brought it up at some point, but Flannery’s mother died shortly after her father had become a gym leader. Single with a two year old child, and now Flannery was only what? 2, 3 years older than Burris?

“My grandma- Aile- was adopted you know,” Burris said. Wally perked up. “She got abandoned by her biological mom and adopted by Aurea Juniper as a newborn.” It suddenly dawned on Burris he had heard little further on his biological great-grandmother.

Flannery nodded, sniffling.

“There’s a lot of people out there like that, too, you know,” Burris continued.

“Miss Juniper practically adopted me, after all,” Wally said. And now Burris realized that Wally barely brought up his _own_ parents. 

Burris put two and two together, his eyes squinted in contemplation as he hummed to himself.

“Sure, they might.” Flannery threw her hands up. “Until my name is plastered all over the news as a killer.” She banged the back of her head against the sterile wall, eyes shut.

“I mean, I forgive you, if that’s what you’re asking.” Gears suddenly shifted in his head, a lightbulb flicking on. He grimaced. “Maybe avoid my dad for a while.”

“Oh,” Wally said.

“I suppose that makes sense,” Flannery murmured, looking down at her clasped hands in her lap. “Doing something like that to your co-worker’s son.” 

That damned silence set in, the faint sounds of Burris’ mons fidgeting filling the silence. Robby spared occasional dagger-like glances at Flannery, which would promptly earn him a light slap from Jorge in response. Apparently Robby had _two_ trainers now, and if it weren’t for the situation at hand Burris would’ve needled the Dewott on it to light a fire under his ass. 

Ginnis whined, and Wally hushed softly while patting his head.

“So uh,” Wally said, almost mumbling as he tapped his feet. “Disguise?”

“Hm?” Flannery perked up, looking at Burris with a confused look on her face. “Oh. Yeah, I kinda had to.” 

“Why?” Wally asked.

Flannery narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t see the giant media swarm outside my gym?”

“… Right,” Wally replied. “Best case you sneak out the back and the media just follows you here-“ Wally could almost hear Burris shudder “- worst case you get bombarded immediately out the front door.”

Flannery nodded. “Yeah, basically.” She leaned in closer. “I really didn’t want to drag the media over here either, I know…” Flannery looked into Burris’ eyes and sighed. “I know you really didn’t need all of that right now.”

Burris smiled a little in response. “Neither do you.”

The absence of conversation seemed less awkward this time- probably assisted by the fact Jorge now had Robby pinned to the floor, the Dewott fidgeting under his weight- while the group of them stared at the bed.

“I’ll miss her,” Burris said finally. She had been the first one to really _listen_ to him outside of Robby, after all, and she always had a calm presence about her, even with her gangly and awkward appearance. Burris looked to Axel, the Plusle resting his head Jonesy’s neck and making it clear Burris wasn't the only mourner.

Flannery and Wally both nodded but said nothing; the former felt like it wasn’t her place to speak up, the latter felt that Burris just needed the tiny bit of space to mourn without someone else butting in.


	33. Life Finds A Way

Burris looked down at the new Great Ball clicked onto his belt, and sighed. He hadn’t sent someone back to Birch this time, and had to explain the situation.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved. He had experience with Chromia before; she had apparently taken interest in some of the younger starters Birch had in the lab, and had started to teach them like they were her own. Birch almost protested when Burris asked for the Skarmory again, but relented once he realized what had happened.

His dad and mom got calls before of course, first thing after Burris woke up. Mom suggested that he come home for a bit, while dad let his anger become very well known on the matter. Towards Flannery, of course.

“Ready?” Wally asked. The two of them had decided to stop in Mauville before flying back home; Burris had wanted to stop by Elesa’s, and he told Wally they could stop by his aunt’s there too. 

Truth be told, part of it was Burris buying time; while he was too busy feeling numb to _really_ notice, he didn’t miss the broken plates and window coming home from the hospital the next day. 

Mom didn’t know Wally, either. Aile’s warning still hung around in the back of his head, too.

He nodded at Wally. It’d be nice to say thanks to Elesa.

“Yeah, I’ve had enough of this town,” Burris said. He grimaced.

“I don’t blame you.”

-

Same shit, different day. Elesa tasted the smoke and ash from the cigarette between her teeth, a newspaper in her hands as she overlooked the sprawling desert and mountain climb before her. Some part of her wished she didn’t smoke out here so she could inhale the fresh air, but she knew her nerves would fucking murder her otherwise.

She skimmed the articles- another one talking about Devon, one talking about Clarence Stone meeting with Silph’s old CEO. She remembered some of the rumors surrounding the place; that the pre-war research was stored there, in a vault deep beneath Saffron, that they had tried to build an android before, that they had pieces of the King’s Weapon from Kalos stored there…

“People love their crazy shit,” she muttered. Still, the vault was true. Dad needed someone to entrust his secrets and decisions to, and Elesa had decided to take those and take care of him in exchange for Volkner having to run his gym back in Vermillion.

And she ended up running a fucking gym halfway across the world from Cheren anyway. Typical of her luck. She flipped the page. Burris had sent her a message, and for once she had something to look forward too.

Supposedly him and Wally were travelling together again. Aile probably did cartwheels when she found out they made up.

“Does my goddaughter know, though,” Elesa murmured to no one in particular. Aile had told her how poorly Liliana had taken things after Burris’ last relationship, how it gnawed at her that she could’ve done way more to protect Burris from him.

What stopped her from considering that “way more” when it came to Wally now? Burris hadn’t spoken it yet, but the kid hiked to goddamn Fallarbor for the boy, and actions spoke louder than words. And since they were travelling back here together…

Elesa dropped the top half of her newspaper as she heard the faint sound of… something. She couldn’t describe it quite, but it sounded like propulsion? She shrugged and lifted the newspaper backup, humming and looking through the list of stories. 

“Shame there’s not much else interesting…” Elesa muttered. The sound of propulsion grew louder; Elesa squinted and flicked the butt of her cigarette down to the lawn below. She wondered if it was one of Wattson’s old friends; she swore she remembered one of them liked fiddling around with jetpacks and the like.

“The hell is that?” Elesa muttered.

Seconds later, Aile’s head popped out just above the side of her deck.

“Hey, nerd!”

Elesa fell to the ground and out of her chair with a surprised screech, grumbling as Aile cackled. She grabbed the scattered paper and shuffled it back together in some semblance of order, while Aile lifted herself up onto the deck, her metal boots clanging hard.

“What the fuck are you doing here, you absolute shitter?” Elesa shot back. She caught sight of Aile almost entirely covered in her metal suit, gunmetal black from neck to her feet with lighter grays on the joints, a jetpack-esque device on her back and what appeared to be similar on her hands and feet, colored similar to the joints.

It began to shift and dissolve as Aile laughed.

“Figured I’d stop by.” Aile leaned back against the railing. “Anabel wanted my help looking into Mt. Chimney real quick. Something about Magma being there or something.”

“Are they?” Elesa asked, the slightest hint of concern in her voice.

“What, does it matter to you?” Aile asked.

“That’s barely half a day away from Mauville, you twit.”

“Oh, right.” Aile shrugged. “Found some odds and ends from human activity, nothing concrete.” She smiled widely. “Besides, it’s not like you can’t just call on my family if something _does_ happen.”

Elesa blinked and put the papers down on the table. “That reminds me,” she said, pointing at Aile. “Your grandson is stopping by soon with Wally.”

Aile noticeably brightened. “Together?”

“I mean, you don’t fucking hike up to Fallarbor for nothing,” Elesa pointed out. Wrestling her folding chair upright, she continued. “Don’t think it’s really official yet, but I’m not usually wrong on these things.”

“I mean-“

“- remember what I told you about you and Bianca? After the Resort deal?” Elesa leaned in a little and smiled, Aile stiffened for a moment and chuckled.

“Point.”

Elesa withdrew and laughed. “You were prepared to _completely_ throw yourself at me, I told you something wasn’t right with her and to figure out, and…” Elesa stretched out her hands wide. “How long is it now? Over 50 years?”

“51 now, 52 in a month or so,” Aile said, rubbing the back of her head.

“See? Even when ridiculous bullshit is involved.” Elesa paused and pointed herself. “I’m absolutely right on these things.”

“If only your taste in guys was as spot on,” Aile said. Elesa squinted; Aile laughed. “The fact that you of all people ended up with that _stiff_ -“

“He’s cute!” Elesa protested, finger up and cheeks flushed. She coughed and in an instant forced herself to regain her composure. “Besides we’ve gone over this for decades now.”

Elesa rolled her eyes as Aile grabbed her cheek and tugged on it.

“And you still give me the same overreaction every time.” Elesa batted Aile’s hand off. “There’s a reason we’ve done this for decades.”

“Because you keep talking shit about my husband, you fuck!” Elesa’s feigned composure melted in her protest, and Aile’s laughter could be heard from Mauville. 

Aile wrapped her arm around Elesa’s shoulder and shook her a bit. “No, you’re actually cute together, if I’m being honest.”

“Told you so,” Elesa grumbled. 

“You’re still a giant nerd for marrying him though.”

Elesa opened her mouth and pointed at Aile to object, but the buzz of her Pokenav interrupted her. From Burris, and they were right on time. She slipped the phone back into her pocket.

“You’re lucky your grandson just got here, or I’d fucking kill you this time.”

Aile laughed at Elesa’s slanted eyes.

“You’re cute when you’re angry, you know that?”

-

It didn’t take too long for a plan of action to form; Aile had grabbed Wally so he could visit his family in Verdenturf, while Burris stuck around in Mauville.

“Surprised you decided to split up,” Elesa teased. The two of them walked through Mauville’s fake streets, a far cry from Fallarbor’s rundown state and the almost uncontrollable nature surrounding it. Elesa adjusted her navy blue coat. She never liked how cold they ran the air conditioning during summer.

“It’s for the day,” Burris whined and rolled his eyes. 

“I’m teasing you,” Elesa chided. “Besides, it’s good to have time apart from one another too.” The two walked in silence for a little while, the post lunch rush streets affording them about as much space as Mauville ever could provide. “So, I saw the news…”

Burris mood dropped a little, as did his head. “Yeah.”

Elesa exhaled sharply. She told Wallace that shit would happen. Flannery had just lost her only remaining parent and suddenly found herself not only grieving but thrust into his massive shoes? But no, they _needed_ to have the league open for challengers no matter what.

“You want to talk about it some?” Elesa asked.

“I mean.” Burris shrugged, hands in his deeper green pockets. “I dunno, I’m not sure what else there is to talk about.” He sighed and tugged at the color of his light pink shirt. “She’s gone and… I dunno, I’m not mad or that terribly depressed, I’m just.”

“Confused?”

Burris tilted his head. “Yeah. Kinda. I know Flannery got all of that thrown on her, it was irresponsible at best but.” He shook his head. “Feels like my fault still.”

“It’s natural,” Elesa stated. She looked down at Burris as they continued to walk. “A lot of trainers, if they do this long enough, tend to end up losing a pokemon. It’s usually dealing with the wild rather than the gyms, though there are, well.” Elesa paused. “Accidents.”

“I know my family doesn’t talk about them much,” Burris replied. His eyes drifted towards a businessman in a nearby corner, nearly whisper shouting at someone on the phone. “Like I know Grandma Aile doesn’t have any traditional starter pokemon, and great grandma is still a head professor in Unova…”

“Mmmm, yeah,” Elesa said as neutrally as possible. “If they’re lucky it’s not a starter or some childhood pokemon. Aile… was not lucky on the former.” Elesa considered the absolute warpath Aile would’ve been on if it _were_ the latter. 

“But I guess I was,” Burris said. “Robby got really beat up by the Camerupt there, it…”

“There’s no real use in dwelling on it,” Elesa interjected and got a silent nod in response. “You had no real reason to think you were in danger there.”

“Yeah. Um.” Burris clasped his hands behind his back. “What’s going to happen to Flannery now? I’m…” He snorted. “I mean, I definitely would like that to never happen to anyone else, but…”

“… but you don’t her life ruined, either,” Elesa finished. “That makes two of us.”

A second passed in silence.

“I don’t think my dad agrees,” Burris replied, quiet as a mouse.

“He always was a spitfire,” Elesa said. No reason for that to change when it involved his son. “Well, I can tell you we’re having a meeting over in Ever Grande. League business, Wallace and the Elites and everything.”

“And?”

Elesa gave a warm smile. “I’ll try to talk them down on it. Promise.”

Burris raised an eyebrow. “Even if you have to fistfight my dad?”

Elesa’s grin grew wider. “He wouldn’t stand a chance.”

 

-

The sun hung low in the afternoon sky, highlighting the soft grasses and small cute houses that littered Verdenturf. The door shut behind Aile and Wally, the both of them waving goodbye to Wally’s aunt as they walked away. Aile stuffed her hands in her pockets and grinned at Wally.

“Did you have fun?” Aile asked.

Wally nodded energetically. “Yeah! I hadn’t seen them in almost two weeks now…” He trailed off and scratched behind his ear, his mind helpfully reminding him of what _that_ was before. “Before travelling up north and all of that, anyway.”

“Good,” Aile said. She pretended to not notice the nerves for the moment; Wally always got a bit fidgety when he got nervous- and judging by the twiddling thumbs, he was- and he’d eventually bring it up quiet -like. “How was the rest of your trip? Towards Meteor Falls and everything?”

“A lot of fun!” Wally’s nerves mixed with his cheer; a genuine smile couldn’t quite hide whatever ate at him, and Aile could probably hazard a guess as to what. “It was… nice.” Wally awkwardly chuckled. “Besides Garrison blowing up a horde of Lunatone, but…”

Aile laughed. A bit of deflection. “Gibles are a handful.”

“And he’s a Gabite now.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Aile said. Wally nodded, and the light breeze in the air thankfully prevented total silence for a few seconds. “How’s Burris?”

Wally held his hands behind his back, looking away for a moment. “It’s- mostly great so far, honestly, but…”

Aile could guess the “but”. Wally was many things, but he very rarely actively called other people out, let alone people he had just reconciled with. 

“But…” Aile said, trying to goad Wally into speaking.

“I… don’t know.” Wally paused, then stammered. “A-about his past, I mean,” he finished quietly. He exhaled, and Aile nodded a little. 

“Yeah,” Aile said, her mood dampening at the subject. She had a hunch, but it wasn’t exactly a topic she _wanted_ to talk about.

A necessity, though. The breeze didn’t, couldn’t choke out the deafening silence

“I don’t know if I can help him there.” Barely above a whisper, but Wally spoke up all the same. Aile glanced around, eventually finding a nice warm bench, wood painted with a darker brown stain and weather-proofed cushions sitting in front of a garden.

“How so?” 

“I just-“ Wally snorted. “I don’t know!” Wally seemed surprised at the sound of his own raised voice and tripped into stumbling for a moment. “N-no one tells you how to- how to deal with _that_ ,” he finished, and slouched over.

“They don’t,” Aile said. She shrugged at Wally’s incredulous look. “I mean, do you think Bianca had a guide on how to handle me?”

“I-“

Aile leaned her head on her hand and smiled at Wally’s attempted objection. “Don’t lie.”

“… No.”

Nodding, Aile continued. She could talk about all sorts of crap that happened between the two of them, some of it entirely out of either of their control, but… not the time and place. “Exactly. There’s never a guide on these sorts of things,” Aile said. “Besides, you’re travelling together again, right?”

Wally nodded.

“And you’re helping Burris deal with losing Terri, right?”

“Well, yeah,” Wally said, running a hand through his hair.

Still not entirely convinced, but Aile knew he’d get there.

“Look, none of these is ever perfect,” Aile said, crossing her hands in front of her. “And some of this is less… perfect than others.” She hid her clenched teeth best she could, collected herself at the sight of Wally giving her a look, and went on. “And…”

Aile tilted her head back and forth, the protective part of her suggesting it wasn’t right to put this on Wally _now_ , the realistic part of her telling her that he deserved to be prepared for what was next. The two of them had told both her and Elesa their plans after this; flying home to Twinleaf to visit Burris’ parents.

Aile snorted, realism winning out.

“… and he’s not the only one you need to support here, either.”

Wally blinked slowly, nodded his head even slower, swallowed his initial words, then said quietly and slowly, “What do you mean by that?”

“I…” Aile started. Arceus, this was literally worse than the birds and the bees talk. “Well, with what happened to Burris it… didn’t. Just hurt him.” Aile felt herself having to restrain her anger on the topic at hand, the boiling blood, and hoped her daughter could do at least half of that for Wally’s sake. “His mom, his dad, his sister…”

“Oh,” Wally said, then blinked as the gears churned in his mind. “Oh.”

“You already know Eli, so I can tell you he’s fine with it. Sienna… she’ll be fine, too.” She always had a sharp head on her shoulders; Wally wouldn’t hurt a fly, on purpose. Maybe a bit _tentative_ at first but not outright angry. 

Aile exhaled.

“Then there’s the matter of my daughter.”

Wally tilted his head, quirked an eyebrow. “Her?” 

Aile had described her in many ways to Wally, but most of them had boiled down to being a total sweetheart. Maybe if she had any idea of Wally and Burris ever even being close to a thing she’d have spoken up sooner.

“Yes, her.”

Wally paused, Aile could see the math he was doing in his head by the ways his eyes shifted back and forth.

“… she’s psychic,” he muttered, nodding to himself as the math began to add up.

“She feels like she…” Aile sighed. “She feels like she could’ve done a lot more for Burris the-” She drummed her fingers on the bench. “-the last time.”

“And?” Wally almost immediately interjected, picking up on Aile’s non-verbal cue. He had gotten slightly better at that; she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit proud.

“And I’m not sure I can blame her there,” Aile finished. Wally fidgeted, staring at his circling fingers and sweating.

“B-but,” Wally started, then shut his mouth quickly, shaking his head as if he wanted to dismiss the next thing out of his mouth immediately. “She…” 

“… she’ll figure it out,” Aile finished, setting a hand on Wally’s shoulder. “Look, she’s not malicious or some demoness or anything. And… it’s not fair to put all of that on you too, but-“ Aile exhaled sharply out of her nose, turning away from the borderline nervous wreck in front of her. She put on her bravest, most motherly, face and charged on. 

“But you kind of need to go through this to help her too, to some degree.”

“Why?” Wally blurted out. “I…” He almost said “didn’t do anything” on a whim, before he flashed back to the confrontation back in Mauville weeks ago, to… to the fact Burris definitely told her what all had happened.

“Because sometimes life just finds a way,” Aile replied. She shook her head, realizing the statement made absolutely zero sense especially after leaving it hang for a few seconds, and continued. “To throw things like this at you.”

Wally seemed unconvinced.

“Look, I promise you beyond a benefit of any doubt,” Aile said, squishing the palms of her hands together like a prayer and pointing them at Wally. “She’ll come around after she meets you. Promise, swear to god.”

“You didn’t make it sound so simple,” Wally muttered.

“Never said it would be,” Aile said. “She’ll probably want to dig through your head a bit.” More like certainly, but Wally seemed to get that. “But… she’ll come around.”

“Why?” Wally replied.

“I mean…” Aile pointed at herself. “She’ll just think I’m protecting you if I tell her, but…”

Wally blinked, eyes wide. “She’ll pick up on it when- _if_ \- she digs through,” he finished.

“Precisely,” Aile said. She struggled to put her next statement into words. Finally, she settled on patting Wally on both of his shoulders. “Just, be brave like I know you can, okay? For Burris and for Liliana’s sakes.”

That little smile crept back onto Wally’s face after a moment of uncertainty. 

“Okay.”

-

“So.”

The boys had said their goodbyes, the sun setting low in the sky and turning it into an array of oranges and yellows as Chromia lifted off towards Littleroot Town. They’d get there by nightfall; Skarmory were well known for being fast fliers with endurance, the only reason they declined to migrate like Taillows and Wingulls was because the arid environment of the northern wastes of Hoenn was almost perfect for them year round.

Aile looked back to Elesa, leaning on the frame of her house.

“So?”

“Did you tell Wally?” 

Aile nodded. “About Lil? Yeah.” She sighed, an odd gnawing feeling rumbling in her gut.

“He’ll be fine,” Elesa said, waving for Aile to come in. The door clicked shut, and Elesa saw the confident façade of Aile retreat for a moment. “And you... didn’t tell Liliana about Wally, did you?”

Aile could feel Elesa’s eyes narrow a bit.

“No,” Aile replied curtly. “She wouldn’t believe me until she did her mind read anyway.”

Elesa planted her hands on her hips. “You could’ve told her earlier.”

Aile pursed her lips. “By the time I met Wally, she was out of the house with kids.” She turned to face Elesa, arms crossed. “Pardon me for not predicting Wally would be interested in my grandson, and god fucking help me I didn’t predict that he’d get-“

“Easy.” Elesa held a hand out. “Easy.”

Aile exhaled, rubbing her temples and gritting her teeth. “Sorry. I just…” She turned towards the window, sunset highlighting her pale skin. “Didn’t think all of this would just _collide_ like this.”

Elesa nodded, walking up to Aile and wrapping her up in a tight hug. The two stood in silence for a few moments before Elesa withdrew.

“It’s hard to see things like this coming until they’re just. There,” Elesa said. It didn’t take a psychic to see her deflate some, to see her mind drift to the man upstairs.

“… How’s dad?” Aile asked.

Elesa tossed her hands up and slapped them down on her waist. “Same as ever, I guess,” she said. The “except a little worse” had gone unsaid more and more over time.

Aile hummed a response. She never had a good one when it came to old man Surge rotting away upstairs, and Elesa would probably kill her if she ever described it like that.

“I can put on some tea and reheat some mac and cheese,” Elesa said, forcing a smile a little.

“Yeah,” Aile said, stretching her arms above the head. Time for the two of them to just be friends together gradually became more and more scarce over time, and unwinding together sounded like a treat. “That sounds great.”


End file.
